THE 

VINE-DRESSER'S 

THEORETICAL, AND PRACTICAL 

OR THE ART OF OUIiTIVATIITa 

THE riJVE; 

AND MAKING 

WINE, BRAXDY, AXD VIXEGAR. 



With descriptions of the Species and Varieties of the Tine ; the Climates, Soils, and Sites 
in which each can be successfully cultivaied, with their times of blossoming and bearing; the 
diseasesof the Vine and means ol preveniion. With instructions for the preservation 
of Wines, Brandies, Vinegars, Confections, (cc. of the Grape; for ttie care of 
the Wine. Cellar; the economy of the Vine-Yard ; and a brief Sketch 
of the diseases Incideatal to the Vine-Dresser. 



THIEBAUT DE BERNEAUD, 

Perpetual Secretary oj the Litmaan Society Paris, mcnberof several Societies and Jtsociationsjbr the 
Improvement of Agriculture ; and Editor of the .-I ^ricuilural Journal of Paris, ^e. 



From the second French Edition, hy the Translator of 
LE SOLITAIRE, LE NOTTI ROMANE, &C. 



NEW-YORK: 
FUBXiISHSD BIT F. GJLNFZSZiD. 
1829. 



INTRODl CTIOA. 



It is proper to state here, that in the present translailan^ and the pub- 
licOtion of the same, there has, perhaps, been no motite more poicerfal 
tcith both translutor and publisher, than the desire to disseminate the 
instructions contained in the original icark, in accordance tcith the 
views and vrishes expressed by respectable officers of the Linnaan Socie- 
ty of Paris, through their branch entahlished in this country: one of tht 
maxiins of that institution, to which its members liberalbj assent, being 
that in their individual capacity they should dcrote their efforts and iii- 
Uuencc to encourage the diffusion of the information collected by the So- 
ciety, especially such as is of practical adaptation, and tends to the im- 
protement of any province of agriculture. And it is now a subject of 
congratulation to the publisher, that thus icork will make its appearance 
at a time when the spirit of enterprise in the Vine-Culture is so for- 
ward, and when so many possessed of capital and education, are turn- 
ing their cares and attention to this new and promising article of 
produce. He entertains the hope, confiding in the character of the ori- 
ginal work 6,' of its author, that this publication icill, along with others 
on the same subject, meet the call for information, and supply the neces- 
sary general principles by ichich this culture should be regulated. The 
fwofolloicing introductory and ea:planatory letters, concerning the abil- 
ity and merits of the author, are subjoined, in recommendation of the 
selection of this Manual for these purposes. 

The following is a letter written hy Dr. Samuel L. MitchiU. in 
answer to a note to Mm from the translator, requesting kis opinion 
of Thiebaut de Berncand's Manual on the Vine. 

Xeic-York, Jan. 30, 1829. 
do myself the pleasure, as soon as practicable, to answer your let- 
ter of yesterday, on the subject of the Vine-Dresser s Manual. 1. ap- 
pears to he a regular treatise on the Grape-producing Vine. The sub- 
ject is treated under the folloicing heads .- 1, the culture of thi Vine 
and, its introduction ivjto France . 2, the diseases to which it is uhject. 



mTHODUCTION. 



their causes, and the means of prcvrniing and removing them: 3, the 
art of making wine : 4, preparation of brandy : 5, different tises of the 
prodvris of the Vine, in domestic economy : 6, a sketch of the diseases 
peculiar to the Vine- Dressers. 

" You ask my opinion of the author M. Thiehaut de Berneaud. I have 
no personal acquaintance with, him ; but have seen a considerable num- 
ber of his writings and compilations. I consider him, independent of 
his perpetual secreiary-ship to the Linnaan Society of Paris, as hold- 
ing a respectable and distinguished place among the satans of the pre- 
sent time. His produetions contain abundant proofs of his industry 
and research. Ha nuiy be fairly classed, I think, among the most zcal- 
mts euUicators of natural science, more especially botany, and its rc- 
l4itions to farming and horticulture. Though not a practical cultiva- 
tor ef the vine myself, I am nevertkeUss led to conclude that this work 
cf }iis, possesses a full share of merit. I hope your tramlation of it 
into English icill invite many readers. The high character of the au- 
thor will dauhtless,at this season of vine-culture, attract muck attention. 

Added to the preceding publications of able men, at home and abroad, 
en the same subject, I anticipate from this tract, benefit to the country 
and Tcicard to the translator.''' 

Yours with sincere esteem and regard, 

SAMUEL L. MITCHILL. 

Honorary President of ihe'New- York, Branch of the LinnCtan Society 
of Par-is. 



From Dr. F. Pascalis. 

The Vine-Dressers' Manual, Manuel da Vigneron of France, which 
after having passed through several editions, is now offered in a 
good irtnislation to the American public, is a work of standard 
merit, and enjoys much celebrity tchere its usefulness has been tested ; 
more particularly has it been held in great repute in that north- 
ernsecti&n of France, where of late the culture and crops of the grape 
have been more generally attended to than they icere informer years and 
rendered quite domestic. The author, Monsieur Thiebaut de Berneaud, 
editor of the Paris Journal of Agriculture, and member of many learned 
societies, has himself been a powerful eontrihutor to the extension of that 
rich species of culture in climates where it was formerly thought as 
ferfertlyinadmi.y-ihJf. n.< in the Brlgic and other prorinres of fJic Loir. 



IKTRODUCTIO.X. 



Countries. At presetit, however, both the fruit and excellent wine are 
abundant in those parts, and in countries much beyond the 47th degree 
of ■North Latitude. 

JVo cultivator, whether horticulturist or farmer, canread these pages 
without admitting the practical merit of the clear instructions, and 
recognising an experienced teacher, whose precepts can be adapted to 
every climate and latitude in which the grape is found indigenous 
and sufficiently productive for the important object of fermentation. 
Ml the processes of this latter, are also given in the work, with the most 
lucid and plain detail of circumstances. Monsieur Thiebaut, who has 
been so long the principal agent and secretary of the Linncean Society 
of Paris, and who in that capacity has given such admirable and valua- 
ble assistance towards its extensive collection of Annals in Natural His- 
tory and Philosophy, presented this work long since to the subscriber, in- 
viting him to employ it for the encouragement of the culture of the 
grape-vine in this country, tohere that plant is a native, and where it 
needs but the industry of the inhabitants, and proper modes of cultiva- 
tion, to insure a complete and general success in the raising of wines. 
Happy to have in part complied with his desire, and honored by being the 
depository of his recommendation, I the more confidently presume to 
subjoin my wishes to his, that we may y&t see yearly vintages on this 
side the Atlantic, as regular as the harvests of grain. 

FELIX PASCALIS M, D. 

President of the Linnaan Branch of Paris for th" J'. States of .America 
New-York, Ffibrnary lOlh, 1828. 



THE VINE-DRESSER'S 
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL 



BOOK FIRST. 

Page 

Chapter 1. History of the Vine, 

Chap. IL Description of the Vine and its Varieties. 13 

1. Early Black Morillon, 15 

2. The Miller's Grape, 17 

3. The Black Burgundy f 18 

4. The Tinto Grape, ib. 

5. Small Garnet, ib. 

6. Pearl Grape, 19 

7. Blue Girkin, ib. 

8. White Giiset, 20 

9. Morillon, ib. 

10. U^ite Mornain, ib. 

11. The Muscat, 21 

12. The Chasselas, 22 

1 3. Cioutat or Parsley-leaved, ib. 

14. The Corinth, ib. 

15. Aleppo Grape, * 23 

16. The Gouais, ib. 

17. The Verjuice Grape, 24 

18. Of other Species and Varieties, ib. 

Chap. III. Of the Soils and Exposures Suitable to the Grape, 26 

IV. The Culture of the Vine, 32 

1. Of the Tall-Stock or Running Vine, ib 

2. Of the Lo20'Stock, 33 



Contents, 

Page. 

3. Counter 'Espalier Training} ................... 34 

4. Pyramid Training^ 35 

5. TreUisc Training, 39 

Chap. V. O71 the Selection and Setting Out of Slips, 41 

VI. Of the Tillage of the Vine, 46 

Vn. Of the Manuring of the Vine, • 4S 

VIII. Of the Influence of the Weather on the Vine and 

its Products f 51 

IX. On the Means of Renewing Vines and Vineyards 53 

1. Of Layering, ib. 

2. Of Intrenching, e* 54 

3. Of Barking, 55 

Chap. X. 0?^ Pruning, „5 56 

XI. Of Clipping or Budding, 61 

XII. Of Propping or Supporting, 63 

XIII. Of Tying or Binding, 65 

XIV. Of Topping, 66 

XV. Of Girdling, 67 

XVI. Of Grafting, 72 

XVII. Of Leafing, 76 

BOOK SECOND. 

Diseases and Casualties Affecting the Vine ; loith the 

Means of Prevention and Cure, 

Chap. I. Of Frost, 77 

2. Of Hail Storms 78 

3. Of Fogs 79 

4. Of the Flush or Plethora, SO 

5. Of the Goupillure or Stint, ib. 

6. Of the Mildews, 81 

7. Of Cankers, ih. 

8. Diseases of the Leaves, The Blast, the Rust, and 

the Yelloics, 

9. Thp. Blight or Barrenness of the Blossom, 82 

Chap. II, Of Animals that Attack the Vine, 83 

1 Of Quadrupeds, ia. 

2. Of Birds, ib. 

3. Of Snails, 84 

Chap. III. Of Insects that Attack the Vine, 85 

1. The Melolontho, ib^ 



COSTEKTS. 



Page 

2. The Cryptocephalus vitis, 86 

3. The Weevil, 87 

4. The Red Chrysomda, ib. 

5. The Coccinella globosa, ib. 

6. The Grasshopper, Gryllus grillo-talpa, 88 

7. The Mantis religiosa or Camel-Cricket, ib. 

8. The Red-winged Cricket — .icrydium stridulum . . ib. 

9. The Chermes zitis, or Vinc-Fretter, ib. 

10. The Wasp, 89 

11. The Pyralis or Silver-moth, lb. 

12. The Tinea or Miner-xcorm, 90 

13. The Sphinx, ih. 

14. The Tinea of the Clvster. 91 

BOOK THIRD. 
The Art of Maki.vg Wine 

Chap. I. Of the Vintage, , 9-2 

II. Of Stemming the Grapes, 95 

III. Of Crushing the Grapes, 97 

IV. Of the Vinous Fermentation, 9«) 

V. Of the Wine Vessels, Vats, ^-c 104 

VI. Of the Duration of the Fermentative Process, . . . 106 

VII. Of the Wine-Press, 110 

VIII. Of the Wine-CcUar, HI 

IX. Of the Management of the Wine in Casks 112 

X. Of Racking, , 114 

XI. Of Fining, 116 

Xir, Of the Siilphurijig or Stumming of Wines 117 

XIII. Of Bottling, 118 

1. Quality of the Coring, 119 

2. Of Securing the Corks, /J. 

3 Of Piling the Bottles, ih. 

Chap. XIV. Of the Mixture of Wines 120 

XV. Of the Degenerations and Alterations of Wine, . . 122 

1. Of Roping, , ib. 

2. Of Acidity, 123 

X Of Bitterness, 124 



Contents. 



Page 

4. Loss of Colour or Turbidness, 124 

5. Of Pricking, 125 

6. Of Mustiness, 126 

7. Of Freezing, ib. 

8. Of Sediment, 127 

BOOK FOURTH. _ 
Of Brandies. 

I. Of the Selection of Wines, 129 

II. Economical Method of Dist 'l .don, 131 

III. Various Sorts of Brandy, 133 

IV. Directions for .Attending to the Still, 134 

V. Uses of the Murk, 137 

BOOK FIFTH. 

Domestic Uses of the Vine Crop. 

Chaf. 1. Uses of the Leaves and the Sap, 141>y 

II. Domestic Uses of the Vine, 142 

III. Various Uses of the Must, 145 

IV. Various Sorts of Made-wines, 148 

1. Made-ioines, ih. 

2. Cordial Wines, 149 

3. Straw-wines, 150 

4. Sparkling Wine, 151 

5. Rose Wine ib. 

6. Rape Wine 152 

Chap. V. Of Vinegar 153 

Domestic Vinegar ib. 

Distilled Vinegar 154 

Aromatic Vinegar ib. 

Sallad Vinegar ib. 

Vinegar Syrup ib. 

BOOK SIXTH, AND LAST. 

Brief hints on the diseases incidental to the Vine-Dresser . . 155 

Explanation of the Plate i. 

Vine Shears. ih. 



Contents. 



(^uentin Durand's Girdler j. 

Bellinger's Cutting Kippers ii. 

Acker's Machine for Crushing the Grape ib. 

Guerin's Machine for Crushing the Grape iii 

Syphon for Filling Cables Hi 

Syphon or Funnel for Emptying Bottles iiii. 



THE 

VINE-DRESSER'S 



THEORSTXCAL & PRACTXGAZ. MANUAL, 

&c. &c. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORY OF THE TTXE. 

The plant that bears the grape is one of those that has been for 
many centuries under the closest cultivation. It was first dissemi- 
nated over the earth by the Ethiopic colonies ; from the Ethiopians 
the Arabians received it, and from the latter it passed into Judea. 
Then following the coast of the Mediterranean it flourished in E- 
gypt, Syria, the shores of Ionia, Greece, Spain and Italy. The above- 
stated progression of the vine is drawn from the most authentic cir- 
cumstantial evidence. 

All knowledge of the first application of the vine to its present ob- 
ject is denied us ; of that, as of every useful invention necessary to our 
actual comforts, we enjoy the benefits, without concerning ourselves 
about the benefactor. If we must assign some probable period for the 
discovery, we will place it as far back, as the very first cultivation 
of the earth by tillage. The vine, in the very birth of society, must 
have been an object of importance sufficient to fix the attention, and 
arouse the industry of man. Mythology availed itself of this ignorance 
of the first adoption of the vine, to give it a miraculous origin, and to 
form fabulous accounts of the period, circumstances, and uses of the 
discovery. 

We should like to be able to say who it was that introduced it into 
France, and at what date. But those who have busied themselves 
with the antiquities of Gaul, can only draw vague conjectures from 
the contradictory accounts of Greek and Latin writers. According 



10 



to Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xii. cap. \.) the first who made known the 
vine and its juice, and the advantages of its cultivation, was a Helve- 
tian, named Helicon, who having made his fortune at Rome, wished, 
on leaving Italy, to enrich his own country, and those parts of Galha 
he should pass through, with the knowledge of this precious plant. 
Plutarch and Livy, on the contrary, affirm that it was aTuscan emi- 
grant, who in revenge for his exile and expatriation intoxicated some 
Gauhsh chieftains with the finest ItaUan wines ; and by this tempta- 
tion engaged them and their armed tribes to undertake the pillage 
and sack of Rome, and possess themselves of the Peninsula. The 
opinion of Cicero seems more to the purpose ; he t h inks the introduc- 
tion of the Vine due to the interchanges brought about by commerce ; 
a sentiment confirmed by Varro, Strabo and Juhus Caesar. Diodorus 
of Sicily tells us the same, and that in the most positive manner. 
Justin is another witness in its favor ; he declares that the Phocian 
colony of Marseilles brought with them to their asylima from tyranny, 
the Vine, which they had cultivated at home with such signal success. 

What or when its origin, at least we are certain that from the first 
of its appearance in France, the cultivation spread into every dispo- 
sable corner, wherever a fitting soil and exposure, and active arms and 
spirits were to be found. Its rapid adoption and progress excited the 
jealousy of Rome, who, under pretence of preventing the recurrence 
of famine, decreed that the vine-yards should be turned into wheat 
fields ; and by a second edict, aimed directly at this merciless object, 
ordered a general grubbing up of the Vine throughout the territories 
of Gaul. This took place A. D. 92. It was so rigorously executed, 
that the inhabitants were obliged to resort to metheghn, beer, and 
fermented drinks, such as had been in use before the introduction oi' 
the grape. This inroad on private rigiits was not committed with 
impunity. The yeomanry, whose sturdy arms draw from the soil the 
nourishment of a country, are prompt to resist the tyranny that would 
grind them to the earth ; they are not patient abiders of the yoke and 
fetter. The ferocious Domitian, who had decreed the extirpation of 
the Vine, was forewarned of his fate in the follov;ing distich ; When 
thou shalt have gnawed me down to the root, (says the Vine to the 
goat browsing among her branches ) I still shall bear fruit enough for 
a libation to be poured at the immolation of our Emperor." 

I repeat it, the prevention of dearth was only a pretence made use 
of to render Gaul entirely tributary to Italy, and to take from her the 
high reputation she had gained by her wines, which were in request 
among the most distant nations ; for tlie edict was kept in force for 
two centuries. It wa? not until A. i). 283 that Probu.? restored the 



11 



culture to our ancestors. The restoration was one long festival of 
rejoicings, and every possible display of exultation. Soldiers, old men, 
women, and children, all united in the delightful labour of regenera- 
ting the richest resource of the land. All seemed possessed with a 
spontaneous eagerness to help in the task of breaking up the soil ; 
grubbing out the decayed, useless stocks ; digging trenches, and sftt- 
ting out the hill-sides, once more, with the cherished and long regret- 
ted plant. From the testimony of contemporary annalists, it was a 
festive sight to witness the population of whole villages, swarming 
forth into the fields, and beating the ground with frolicsome dances, 
making the air ring with songs and shouts, and in the midst of the 
frankest merriment, restoring to the glebe, the plant which had been 
forbidden to decorate it with its grateful shade and rich fertility for so 
long a revolution of seasons. 

From that period, the vine, which had never been cultivated north 
of the Cevennes, spread along the banks of the Rhone, the Saone, and 
even to the shores of the Seine, the Marne, the Moselle, the Scheldt 
and the Rhine ; becoming an object to the great land owners as well 
as to the petty proprietor and cultivator. 

The wild and baleful expeditions to the East, in the twelfth and 
thirteenth centuries, brought us from Cyprus, Alexandria, Corinth 
and Palestine, grape-vine slips of an excellent species, till then un- 
kno^\^l to us. They were planted at the foot of the Pyrennees^ and 
from them we have the wines of Frontignac, Lunel, Rivesaltes, and 
others. 

The Vine continued to extend over every part of France, and threw 
open a rich department to commerce. But in 1556, a new proscription 
arrested it. It was said that it drew attention from tillage ; and that 
vineyards encroached on the proportion of ground that should be dedi- 
cated to the plough and the reaping-hook. The vines were again torn 
up, and the hills laid bare of their embowering verdure. Eleven rears 
after the law v/as revoked ; and the Vine was allowed free grcv. th 
until the beginning of the eighteenth century, when agriculture being 
depreciated and debased by the heavy taxes and imposts of the times, 
and the low esteem in which the most useful class of the country was 
held, all sorts of cultivation languished ; the blame of which was laid 
on the luxuriant and teeming vineyards, lovely with fertihty in spite 
of neglect. A royal decree forbade the setting out of new slips, or the 
giving the least care to such as had been out of training for two 
years, under penalty of a fine of $600 ( 3000 franks. ) Far from reme- 
dying the evil, it only added to the sum of misery and distress, as is 
ever the case with proscription, that blindest and most headlong of 



12 



measures ; indeed, no interdict ever yet proved wholesome or salutary 
that was laid on any branch of commerce ; and agriculture, the nurse 
of traffic, can least be expected to thrive, without a latitude and 
encouragement being given her, so wide and so thorough, that she 
has no obstacle or thwart to abide, save those disasters of the seasons 
of which Providence is the sole judge and giver. 

Thft revolution of 1789, which restored to each owner of the soil the 
full exercise of his discretion over his own rightful possessions, has 
put an end for ever to the mischievous system of restraints and restric- 
tions, and taught that private advantage is public interest. Industry 
is now free to create and continue resources of wealth, without fear 
of the bugbear of national evil. This liberal system of legislation gives 
us the power of satisfying the home market for consumption, and 
producing an adequate supply for exportation ; an advantage of which 
we can scarcely be again deprived, even should the iniquitous intent 
enter the conception of some foe to social rights. 



CHAPTER II. 



The Vine belongs to the natural order, Sarmentosm, a family of 
plants with stem-like branches. The class is pentandria monogynia ; 
leaves alternate, palmated, five lobed, more or less distinctly incised 
or dentated : green or blueish ; with flowers in clusters, opposite to 
the leaves, supported by a common peduncle, which turns a to tendril 
if the blossom fails. The flowers are small, greenish ; the calyx very 
small, whole and five toothed ; the corolla is formed of five deciduous 
petals, sometimes united together at their summits like a crown, and 
shed without being disunited. The stamens are five in number, oppo- 
site to the petals ; their filaments subulate ( bent like an awl ) and sup- 
porting simple anthers. No style ; stigmata sessile ( close set ) in a 
five-chambered ovary. This ovary becomes a round or oval berry, 
juicy, unilocular when ripe, with five stony seeds, two, three, or four 
of which are abortive . 

The fruit is only borne on the shoots of the year, and generally at 
the fifth, sixth and seventh joint ; so that if the seventh joint has made 
its appearance without sign of fruit, none need be expected from that 
shoot. 

The species or varieties of the vine are very numerous. Their 
names must long remain obscure and empirical, in a measure ; for the 
labor of arranging them in some regular nomenclature is greater than 
can be imagined ; it can only be accomplished by the concurrence of 
agricultural societies. It has been attempted for the vineyard of Ar- 
bois ( Jura ) by Dumont, corresponding member of the Linnaean Soci- 
ety of Paris ; and in Spain for the Vines of Andalusia, by a distin- 
guished and learned naturalist, Dn. Simon Rojas Clemente ; their 
works only convince us how long we must be condemned to wait for 
the completion of this interesting portion of the history of the Vine. 
The same names are attached frequently to distinct varieties ; and 
often, the one variety is so altered or detoriated by different modes of 
cultivation, soil and exposures, that it cannot be known by the name. 
To obtain a clear summary of these varieties some certain rules or 



14 



designations should be chosen, and the value of the characteristics 
taken to calculate upon, should be fixed and established. 

The roots are partly penetrating, partly running, and thickly fring- 
ed with capillary threads. The stem is cylindrical, thin in proportion 
to its length, and requires support. When young, the stem is more 
or less strongly divided and marked by joints or bends. A smgle 
plant of the vine is sometimes termed a slip, sometimes a stock ; the 
latter name is more particularly given to that part of the vine which 
answers to the trzink in trees ; in the wild state, there is no certain 
rate of length or thickness, both seeming to depend on accident ; but 
they are regulated by the vine-dresser, according to his mode of cul- 
tivation. The stock when young, is covered with a green or tawny 
bark, which becomes brown with age ; it is uneven in thickness, and 
irregular in adherence to the wood ; most frequently seamed and split 
lengthwise, and loosened from the wood in long, narrow layers or over- 
lapping parcels, which are in the end entirely started and swept away 
by the wind and rain. In cold countries the bark is more compact, 
and more even. 

From the stock or trunk, spring the shoots or branches, stem-like, 
sometimes forked, smooth; of a reddish grey in the woody fibre, and 
green in the herbaceous portion ; their number very various, and the 
length indeterminate, only, that those growing upward, are shorter 
than the lateral shoots which run horizontally ; and these again are 
shorter than the lowermost, which trail on the ground. The thick- 
ness is generally proportionate to that of the stock or trunk. In the 
shoots of the season, or yearling branches, the pith fills the whole ring 
of the woody part ; the next year the wood is thicker and the pith 
less ; the third year, there is only a trace of pith, and in the fourth 
year the wood is solid. 

The short twigs springing from the principal branches, are termed 
secondaries or second-shoots ; if the sap be poor and scanty, there will 
be, on the shoots, many buds or beads which perhaps do not unfold at 
all ; but if the juices of the plants are plentiful and vigorous, the sap 
swells and drives all these buds into second-shoots of considerable 
length, which bear fruit as well as the shoots proper. Young vines, 
and those that have been topped by any accident, are hable to bear a 
great many of these second-shoots. 

On the shoot we find the leaves, the fruit, in bunches opposite the 
leaves, and the tendrils by which it clings to other objects to support 
itself. Sometimes the shoot terminates in a small bunch, the berries 
of which are small, crowded, and generally round. 

The leaves are mostly largest nearest the stock, and diminish in 



15 



size towards the extremity of the shoot. The more the leaves are 
sharply lobed, the less they preserve the orbicular figure. The ribs 
are very large and distinct, and sometimes have the same tawny or 
reddish tinge as the leaf-stalk; The tendrils or cirrhi are a filamen- 
tous growth, an elongation of vessels of the shoot. They are rarely 
stationed at random, but generally opposite to the leaf ; they are branch- 
ed or forked according to the strength of the species, the nature of 
the stock, or the vegetative powers of the shoot. They may be con- 
verted into fruits-talks by the following simple operation. When 
branched or forked, the smallest or weakest prong must be nipped off 
closely and neatly ; three or four days after, on the prong that is left, 
small buds will make their appearance, which increase and produce 
well-formed bunches, and mature into excellent grapes. This experi- 
ment was made for the first tiine in 1817, by M. Ristelhuber of Stras- 
burg, and has been repeated by a great number of gardeners and 
vinedressers, and always with perfect success. 

The berry is round or oval, varies in size and hue, being lighter or 
darker, of a blackish purple, foxy red or green, white or golden yellow. 
The colour is principally confined to the skin, which is thin, leathery 
or coriaceous 3 the pulp and the juice are very colourless, even in 
black grapes. The delicate bloom which coats the berry when ripe, is 
a symptom of maturity worthy of strict notice, according to Garidel 
and Estevan Boutelon. Each berry is attached to a fruit-stem or foot- 
stalk, which springs from the main peduncle or stem of the bunch ; 
the assemblage of main and minor stems and berries, constitutes the 
bunch. 

The aroma of the Vine when in flower is highly prized in the East, 
and thought to possess incredible virtues. It has a very volatile and 
penetrating fragrance. 

These general characteristics of the Vine, are such as are least 
known to vary or admit of change ; they are therefore taken as fixed 
points, on which to append our descriptions of the several sorts and 
varieties that are found the most profitable for cultivation. 

1. EARLY BLACK MORILLON 

Morillon Noir Hatlf. 

Of this grape three are two kinds } the one is indigenous and is 
generally called the Magdalen grape ; the other is exotic, and the 
cultivation of it has only of late years attracted attention. It is known 
by the appellation of the Ischian or thrice bearing vine. 



16 



The Magdalen kind is, according to some, a native of Italy ; it hag 
a lower, shorter stock than most other kinds ; the leaves are small., 
and also the bunches, which are very compact ; the berry is not large, 
and is roundish ; the skin leathery, of a black purple, with a high 
bloom ; the p'olp greenish, slightly sugared, and almost insipid. It ri- 
pens by the end of July, or at farthest by the beginning of August, 
which is its only advantage. It figures on the tables of such as pride 
themselves on early fruit, and has no other merit than that of flatter- 
ing the pride of a fantastical taste. It requires a loose, red soil, expo- 
sed to the south. It has erroneously been asserted to bear three crops 
in a favourable season, by the aid of judicious pruning ; but the thing 
is impossible. The kind to wliich Virgil alludes, (Geor. II.) and which 
Pliny, CHist. Nat.) calls trifera, thrice-bearing, iiisana, mad vine, is 
successfully cultivated by M. Borghers, of Lumigny, ( Seine and 
Marne ; ) and since 1812, he has distributed a great number of scions 
and cuttings. This kind is very vigorous, and yields, from the fourth 
year of its setting out, an abundance of excellent grapes, provided it 
be not pruned too close, and lopped too short. Owing to its great vi- 
gour and tendency to luxuriance, it is necessary to allow, after the 
second pruning, a considerable length to the wood or stock. When 
this vine has attained its fourth year, the first crop, which is the lar- 
gest, ripens in the 48th parallel of latitude, in a southern exposure, 
from the 15th to the 20th of August ; the second crop ripens from the 
2.5th September to the 5th October : and the third, which is merely a 
demonstration, from the 25lh October to the 10th November, if not 
caught by the early frosts. The two latter crops are the result of 
pruning ; the end of a shoot is cut off, two or three joints beyond the 
last bunch, just as the blossom has fallen, and the berry is moulded : 
that is, from the 15th to the 20lh of June. New branches or second- 
shoots immediately spring from the joints that are left, and unfold the 
clusters of the second crop ; as soon as the blossom of this latter is 
shed, the previous operation of pruning is repeated on these second 
shoots ; and soon after, but less rapidly than upon the first operation, 
the third crop appears, which it were better never to prune for in high 
latitudes, as it is very scanty and seldom succeeds to reach maturity. 

This plant requires a sofl soil essentially light, and rich in vegetable 
mould. During drought it should be at times watered. A southern 
exposure and espalier training are rigorously indispensable to obtain 
the three crops in the northern departments of France. 

It seems that it is a native of the isle of Chios, whence it was car- 
ried to Calabria and the island of Ischia, w^here it is called Ura di tre 
volte Vanno. The berry is very sweet, of a highly agreeable flavour, 



17 



and with all the qualities requisite for furnishing a very fine wine. 
We would invite the attention of cultivators of the Vine to this spe- 
cies, recommending a trial of it in situations where it is difficult to 
ripen the grape. If the wine itself should not be even equal to beer, 
or cider, the grape itself would be one resource the more at harvest 
time, and for the tables of the poor. 

Many writers have confounded this fine variety with the preceding, 
to which it has no points in common, save color and early ripening. 
To prove the error, I shall state the following facts. 

Under the same tilling, training and pruning as the Ischian grape, 
the Magdalen grape for several successive years, gave always an early 
yield, but only the single crop the season ; while the Ischian gave 
three crops in 1822, and only two perfectly ripe in 1823 — 24, which 
were unfavourable seasons. In 1825 the vine exceeded all expecta- 
tion ; slips trained in espalier gave an abundant crop, full ripe, the 
18th August ; the 20th September, the splendid second growth was 
dead ripe, and the fruit fuller and larger than the first ; while at the 
same period, the berries of the third crop had filled and were begin- 
ning to turn, and the fourth crop was in blossom. The latter ripened 
on the 30th October ; it was very abundant, tolerably handsome, and 
slightly acidulous; and the berries were of the size of small peas. 

This vine, cultivated in the open field, with its branches wound 
around strong posts, four feet in height, produced in 1825, on the 10th 
September, a first crop which was in every view magnificent ; and 
the 30th October a second crop perfectly ripe, and quite abundant ; 
but the bunches were small. 



2. THE miller's grape. 

The Miller's grape is the earliest to ripen of any ; it is easily known 
from all the other varieties, by the greyness of the leaves, which, es- 
pecially in the spring, are covered with a thick, silky, whitish down. 
It will thrive in a very meagre soil, and is not tender to the frost ; but 
if nipped, it does not ren^w the blossom that season. The bunch- 
63 are thick and short; the berries rather crowded, round, large, of a 
very pale yellow, and a sweet, agreeable flavour. The wine is passa- 
bly good. This grape is very generally cultivated in all vine-yards, 
and has one advantage attending it, that it is not subject to the Blight, 
or barrenness of the blossom, 

3 



18 



3. THE BLACK BURGUNDY. 

Le Bourguignon noir. 

The sort generally known by this name, is sometimes called franc 
Pineau, Farinau, JVoirier, Auvernas. The leaf is coated with a cot- 
ton-like down, is blunt at the summit and but slightly lobed. The 
woody-fibre, the leafstalks and even the stems of the bunches are of a 
deep, dark-red hue. The bunch is not over thick, is blunt-shaped and 
not very compact ; the berries oval, of a high coloured claret, and ri- 
pening uniformly. It is but a poor table fruit, but is highly prized for 
wine ; and indeed is the staple kind for that object in France. It re- 
quires a light, sandy or siliceous soil, and an eastern or western expo- 
sure. It stands the frost very well. The wine is rich, keeps well, and 
has an agreeable bouquet. The only draw back of this sort, is, that it 
is not a thrifty bearer ; the crops are small, and frequently, are only 
yielded every other year. 

4. THE TINTO GRAPi:. 

Le Teinturier. 

The wood and stems of this kind, are redder even than the preced- 
ing variety. It is sometimes called Large Garnet, Noireau, (Oliver 
de Serres says Nigrier ) Large Black, or Spanish Black. Its leaves 
are very remarkable by their high tinge of red. The bunch is short .; 
the berries crowded ; and of a dark crimson colour, middling large, 
and very juicy. They are used to colour the must of other sorts ; the 
wine made from them alone, without the addition of other grapes, is 
flat, harsh and ill-flavoured; but can be rendered more lively by the 
admixture of the juice of th3 common white grape. Spring frosts 
are very severe upon it. It seems easily suited in soils and exposures. 
The grape is unfit for the table, being sourish, harsh and hard. 

5, SMALL GAMET. 

Le petit Gamtt 

This variety of the Black Morillon thrives best in a strong loam, 
and any exposure will agree with it, though a northern one is the best. 



The leaves are pointed, divided into three distinct lobes, of a pale 
green. Late spring frosts affect it ; but when nipped, it sends out a 
second crop of blossoms. The grape matures easily, and makes a 
passably good red wine. It bears well ; but the stock requires freruent 
renewing b}- layering, as it does not last many years. 

(3. PEARL GRAPE. 

Le Raisin perle. 

The leaves are dentated, lobed, of a bright greeny the bunches loose, 
the fruit-stems very green; the berries of quite unequal sizes, but 
mostly not large ; oval, of a pale pearly green, and full of a rich, su- 
gared juice. This variety is the staple of a great proportion of the 
vineyards. It likes a substantial loam, calcarious or marly, with a 
declivity to the ground. Humidity is most injurious to it during the 
blossoming; spring and fall frosts are both highly prejudiciable to it ; 
if once nipped, it does not bear again until the second year after. The 
grape when full ripe is slightly musky, and the wine it makes, whether 
white, pale, or red, is generous and excellent. The marmalade too is 
very rich and fragrant. This variety does not require frequent lay- 
ering; and when under the pruning knife, the cutting should be 
made on intermediary shoots, and those not the strongest ones, which, 
according to their strength, are allowed one or two large doublings or 
bends, without any fear of their running out to a too great length. 

T. BLI E GIRKIN. 

Cornichon violet. 

The leaves are very large and but slightly scolloped or lobed ; tlie 
bunches are small and scantily filled ; the grapes long, largest at the 
base and rather curved or hooked at the apex, like young cucumbers. 
The proportion of their length to their breadth is as 2^^ or 3^ to 1 . 
When ripe they are sometimes entirely blue ; but they oftener remain 
green at one end, which is generally the largest. This is the case in 
the neighbourhood of Paris where it is hard to find the Blue Girkin 
perfectly ripe. There is a white variety of the same fruit which ma- 
tures more easily. The wine of this sort is hard, and requires to be 
sweetened by a mixture of milder grapes. It thrives in a strong soi5 , 
well open to the south. 



20 



8. WHITE GRISEl 

Le Griset blavr. 

The leaf has a lively light green hue and is so slightly lobed, that at 
first view it appears entire. The bunch is small, of very irregular 
form, and composed of round berries, crowded together, greyish green 
in colour, palatably sweet and of a highly agreablc aromatic flavour. 
The white wine made from it is highly esteemed, and is reckoned the 
third best in France ; it is very alcoholic and must be drunk in mode- 
ration ; it has much body, is mellow, clear, and the bouquet very 
sensible. The White Griset requires a gravelly soil, situated aslope 
and exposed to the heat. 

0. WHITE MORILLO 

Le Morillon llnnc. 

The White Morillon orBeaunier, has a large leaf, which is of a fine 
lively green on the upper surface, white and cloth-like on the lower ; 
and the five lobes are separated by shallow, irregular scollops. The 
bunches are rather long and composed of distinct clusters ; the berries 
are not very thick set, roundish, and middling sized ; of a whitisli 
green, mottled with white and pale yellow ; the pulp soft and sugary. 
The fruit ripens easily : is fine for the table and for wune. It thrives 
best on a clayey slope of ground, inclining to the west or the south. 
When pruned, the pollard-stems are generally left long enough to take 
a large bend. The wine keeps well } and the grapes may be kept fresh 
through the season. 

10. WHITE MORNAiy, 

Le Mornain Mane. 

The White Mornain greatly resembles the White Chasselas in the 
bulk and shape of the bunch and the set of the berries, which are not 
crowded, are very round and of a pale yellow colour. They become 
tanned on the sunny side in the same manner ; the must is sweet and 
well tasted ; the frut ripens easily even in the north. This kind is 



Riiown in some Vineyards under the names of White, Green and 
Black Melier. The White Meher is preferable to the Black or Green 
though the latter is a great bearer, but slightly ever subject to the 
Bhght of the blossom, and never takes the Yellows. It is found very 
profitable to plant it along with white vines. 

11. THE MUSCAT. 

Le Muscat. 

The Muscat is generally preferred as a table-grape ; very little wine 
is made of it, even at Rivesaltes, ( Eastern Pyrennees,) at Frontignan 
and Lunel, (Herault.) The grapes are round, firm, and very large ; 
mostly very much crowded on the cluster, and of a very pleasant 
musky flavour There are White, Red, Black, and Blue varieties. 

The overgrown bunch of the White Muscat is very long, narrow 
and round at the point. The grapes are so thick set, that they re- 
quire to be thinned to ripen well, They are firm, and brittle under 
the teeth ; and are of a light green colour, amber-yellow on the sun- 
ny side. The pulp is white, with a blue eye, and a strong flavour of 
musk. It does not ripen easily as far north as the environs of Paris. 
The wine made from it has much body, and a decided taste of the 
fruit, with a most fragrant bouquet ; and it gains by age. 

The Red Muscat has a less crowded cluster, and shorter bunch ; 
the quite globular berry takes a bricky hue, or a pale mottle, where 
shaded ; the sunny side is blue or purple. 

The Black Muscat is known by the slender cluster, loosely studded 
with berries, which are very round, smaller and less musky than the 
preceding ; the skin black, downy, or of a black purple. The pulp 
is red next the skin. This grape ripens easily, and by some, is highly 
esteemed. 

The Alexandrian Muscat, has the leaf smaller and more indented 
than the other varieties. The clusters are very bulky and full of 
long, large, oval berries, about an inch in length, of a light green, 
slightly ambered or gilt, firm, brittle to the teeth, and of a musky, 
agreeable savour. The berries have often but one stone, sometimes 
none. The fruit keeps a long while ; and rarely ripens as far north 
as Paris. It should be planted in a strong mould, with an exposure 
to the south. 



12. THE CHAS5ELAS. 

Le Chassclas. 

This is an excellent grape, fine for the table ; and is the one usuallj. 
chosen for arbours, trellises and palissades in gardens. It ripens well 
under such training, and will keep from the end of September or 
beginning of October, during all the fall and winter, even till the 
month of May, The bunches are generally large, long, loose, and 
formed of several clusters at top ; the berries are white, round, firm 
and of a size often varying on the same cluster ; on the sunny side 
they have a fine amber colour. The pulp is very melting, pale green 
in colour, and full of a bland sweet juice : the skin, though very deli- 
cate, is firm. 

The White Chasselas is the most common. There is a black vari- 
ety, that is to say, the grapes, as soon as they fill, take a black or 
dirty red tinge on their white ground. It is a rich fruit, and by some 
preferred to the White Chasselas, but it ripens later There is also 
another Chasselas, with musky fruit. The Musk Chasselas, the flavour 
of which is even more exquisite and more remarkable than either of 
the two others. The berries are thicker on the bunch than in the 
white Chasselas; and are equally round, but more pulpy; the colour 
yellowish white. It ripens early where the exposure is warm. 

13. CIOUTAT, OR PARSLEV-LEAVED. 

Lc Cioutat. 

Though this is generally looked upon as a simple variety of the 
common Chasselas, it differs from it greatly. This sort lias small 
leaves, very muchlobed, divided and laciniate ; the bunches small and 
but thinly furnished ; the berry small and soft. I ouofht to add that 
it diflfers also in every essential, being a grape of a decidedly inferior 
quality. It is sometimes called Austrian or Tardaria grape. 

34. THE CORINTH. 

Le Corinthe. 

We have four kinds that go by this name, the White, Blue, Red and 
Large Corinth, The White, which is jnost prized, has a lar^e slightly 



laciiiiate leaf, of a clothy texture, deep green on the upper side, 
and covered on the under side with a white down. The cluster is 
middling thick, short, crowded and thick set with very small round 
berries. They ripen in September, are white, with a slight tinge of 
yellow ; and the white pulp is very sugary, melting, and extremely 
agreeable to the taste. The grape contains no stones ; and the rind is 
so tender that it is eaten with the fruit. 

The Blue Corinth is larger than the White and has also no stones, 
but is very apt to bleed. The grape rots so rapidly that in the South- 
eastern Departments it has taken the name of Passe or Passerille. 
It requires in pruning, to be left longer than other Vines. The Red 
Corinth is much liked ; the Large Corinth seems only a variety of the 
White Chasselas with a smaller, and less sweet berry. 

15. ALEPPO GRAPE. 

Le Raisin D'Mep. 

This kind of grape was brought to France during the Crusades ; 
and is now completely naturalized. The leaves are dark green and 
distinctly lobed ; they become spotted with red and yellow in the fall. 
The berries are rather large, and round or oval ; some white, others 
black, or marbled, or presenting stripes of the two colours on the 
same bunch. They have but one stone ; and are easy to ripen. As 
this grape is very subject to the Blight, care is taken in pruning to 
leave the shoots long. This stock is a good bearer and durable, but 
slow of growth ; the wine is good, keeps well, and strengthens all 
wines with which it is mixed 3 making them fiery, and helping to 
preserve them. 

16. THE GOUAIS. 

Le Gouais. 

Two Itinds of grape bear the name of Gouais or Gouest ; one is a 
white grape, vulgarly called Verdin blanc, Marmot, and MouUlet; the 
other blue, called Gros plant or Plant de Vigneron, Complant de lune, 
Gros Tressant ; both are excellent for wine. The cluster is very 
large, thick and long ; the berries either roundish, or oblong; moist, 
yielding, more green than yellow, rather tasteless and insipid, but al- 
most the whole berry dissolves to clear juice. This abundance of 



24 



must has lead to the preference of the Gouais for wine, wnerever 
quantity is more an object than quahty . Vineyards once set out with 
it, last a long tune, especially if the White Gouais is the piincipal 
variety used. It Ukes a loose, open, light, warm soil. The leaf is 
heart shaped, the lobes but slightly marked ; both leaves and bark of 
the shoots have a reddish brown tinge. 

17. THE VERJUICE CRAPE. 

Lc Verjus. 

It is known also by the name of Borddcus ; the Verjuice grape has 
a large stout leaf, slightly divided. The bunch is generally thick, 
long, and at the top several secondary bunches or clusters arc grouped 
together, making of the whole an enormous-looking production. The 
berries are middling close, oblong, pointed, of a pale green colour, as- 
suming a slight degree of yellow when ripe. The skin is t'oick, the 
pulp firm, of a greenish white, very harsh-tasted at first, but becoming 
passably mild towards the middle of October. This grape, which is 
not fit for eating unless prepared, is excellent in conserves, marma- 
lades, and other confections ; and is very suitable for the making of 
Verjuice. 

There are three varieties of it, the White, Black and Red. The 
two latter are not in as much regard as the former. They may be 
grafted on any stock ; they succeed perfectly on those the stock of 
which is apt to bleed, such as the Blue Corinth, the Alexandrian Mus 
cat, &c. The coolest exposure suits them best. 

18. OF OTHER SPECIES & VARIETIES. 

If I were called upon to give here the nomenclature of all the spe- 
cies, races, and varieties of the Vine that appear and pass away during 
the course of years,and to which this or that canton or vinej^ard is 
pecuharly attached, I should only run the risk of repeatedly presen- 
ting the same plant in the disguise of a new barbarous name, and ol 
falling into useless details and indifferent digressions. I have found 
many names in the books of the last century alone, of which it would 
be difficult now to find a single one in use. And now, under the sm- 
gle name of Pi7iot or Pincau almost every red grape may be found so 
classed by the Vintagers, without any one being able to answer wheth- 
er this name, which only suits such sorts as have berries shaped 
like the pine-cone, is given by thera to the kind to which this name 



25 



beiongs, and which is cultivated in the Departments of the Yonne, 
Cote-d'Or, Saone and Loire ; or to that grape which yields the small 
wines of Vosges and the flat wines of Haute-Vienne. 

Distinctions of the varieties of the Vine must be always obscure and 
empirical, since there are as yet, no universal pohits of agreement on 
the real value of the expressions and characters by which they are 
designated. And nothing, not even a whole Ufe dedicated to it, would 
be as powerful in extricating the history of the Vine from the laby- 
rinth of confused names, as the corumunication of special committees 
of every agricultural society, discussing individual researches, and 
redncing them all under a uniform nomenclature. Columella, the 
wisest and best of Latin natural pliilosophers, who signalized 58 va- 
rieties of the vine*; Cresceszio, the restorer of Italian agriculture, 
who tells of 40, pecuhar to the Peninsula, in the third centuryt ; 
Alonzo de Hebrzra, who recognized 15 essential differences in the 
Vines of Spain; ; Duhamel du Moxceau, who has given so exact a 
description of 14 varieties deemed by him peculiar to France §, fur- 
nish fine materials ;. their treatises form excelient starting points for 
the undertaking just indicated. 

*De Re rustica, lib. IIL cap. 2. 
t Opus rurahum commodorum, hb. IV. cap. 3 and 4 
% Agricultura generalis, Hb. II. cap. 2. 
k Traite des arbres fruitiers; Art. Vigne. 



4 



CHAPTER II. 



OF THE SOILS AND EXPOSURES SUITABLE TO THE GRAPE 

When we cast a glance at the extreme indigence of the great pro- 
portion of the labouring class of the vineyards, we are at first induced to 
blame the Vine as an unprofitable concern ; but on looking a little 
more narrowly to the causes of this want and indigence, we discover 
the true reasons. In the first place a heavy impost is levied on the 
Vine and also on its liquor ; and so arbitrarily laid, that the least pro- 
ductive Vines pay often as much, and even more, than the best ; while 
the quality of the wine which gives it its value, does not enter into 
the stipulations of the tax. The other causes are, erroneous modes 
of cultivation ; such as not taking into calculation the nature of the 
soil, tlie proper exposure, nor the outlays of labour and expense first 
requisite ; or not choosing the stock with judgement ; or neglecting 
the tillage, pruning, training or other operations necessary for the 
perfection of the crop. 

High imposts discourage the landed proprietor ; however, the remedy 
is easily at hand, in the lessening of these burthens ; but wrong sys- 
tems, or negligent processes of cultivation are equally an injury to 
the state and to individuals ; and both cases duly remedied, this cul- 
ture would be the richest of any. If only proper agricultural cares 
are resorted to, the returns are ample ones ; as every acre, judiciously 
set out, tilled and trained, will yield a nett profit of from 5 to 600 
francs (from one to one hundred and twenty dollars.) 

The first point to be considered, alter the climate is ascertained 
to be suitable, is a knowledge of the soil ; all climates are not favour 
able to the crop ; the Vine, in the North, spends itself in a vigorous 
vegetation, but the grape will not ripen sufficiently ; in the South it 
has to encounter a long-continued withering heat ; and the (qualities of 
the fruit essentially degenerate when the plant is watered. The 
climate therefore should be one of a temperate character ; the Vine 
does not prosper except between the 35th and 51st degrees of lati- 
tude, Schiraz,. a large and populous city of Persia, situated at the 



foot of the mountains of Feristan, is tliouglit to be the most southern 
position in which it thrives ; and Coblentz, at the confluence of the 
Rhine and the Moselle, the most northern at which it yields in the 
open ground. It is cultivated to the best advantage between tho two 
points of limit mentioned, between which lie the finest vineyards in 
Europe ; such as those of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, 
Styria, Carinthia, Hungary, Transylvania, and a part of Greece. In 
cold countries, by means of vineries, localities may be contrived that 
will force the Vine, giving it in summer the degree of heat it receives 
in climates naturally adapted to it. These shelters are so managed 
as to refract the solar rays in proportion to their directness. The 
exposure to the sun has so all-powerful an influence on vegetation, 
that it should not be overlooked by the Vine-dresser. A northern 
exposure is generally deemed the least suitable ; and an eastern oae 
would be the best, if it did not expose the plants, in the first early 
warm days of spring, to the Blast, fi-om the burning of the sun upoii 
the small icicles which act as lenses. A southern exposure is in gene- 
ral too hot in the summer ; and a western one has least to recom- 
mend it, as it throws upon the plant a direct heat, after the early 
hours of the day have abstracted its moisture ; and thereby dries and 
burns it. As a general rule in southern regions, an eastern exposure 
ejiould be preferred ; in northern ones, the Vineyards should face 
tijp South. 

Sometimes this rule has its exceptions, owing no doubt to the 
face frf the comitry influencing the com-ses of udnds ; as for instance, 
the splendid Vine- grounds of the Marne ^nd the Hills of Rhehns : 
those wliich supply the rich tuns of Jouy, ( Indre et Loire.): those 
of both banks of the Cher ; of Saumur ; of Angers ; &c. are, in o-cneral. 
open to the northeast, and the greater number face due North. They 
are less subject to the disastrous attacks of late frosts in the sprino- ; 
and their wmes are good, with a delicate and perfumed flavour. 

The Vine can be suited by a variety of soils : but never with any that 
are soaked with stagnant or decomposing waters. The kind it prefers 
is a dry, light, sandy soil. The vine dressers of the department of 
Arriege ( at the foot of the Pyrennees ) cultivate it half way up their 
highest mountains, in spots quite covered with large smooth stones ; 
and if they w^ere a little more careful in their manner of making the 
%vine, more choice in their selection of stocks, and niore attentive 
to tillage and training, they might make their Vvdnes equal to those 
of Tokay, which are also the growth of Vineyards covered with large 
calcarious pebbles, and lying on the liighest flanks and ridges of s 



promontory exposed to the North and West at the confluence of the 
Bodrog and Thibisk. There are fat soils, entirely clear of pebbles or 
gravel stones, which can be made to yield very good wine ; such as 
the home-made wines of Bdlai, in the department of Maine and Loire, 
v.'Iiich are generous, strong, finely flavoured, and preferable to those 
from the stony knolls in the same department. But notwithstanding 
this, fat soils and rich loams are not a proper choice ; experience has 
taught us, that the excellence of the wine does not depend on the 
luxuriance of the plant ; and that dry, light earths should be reserved 
for it. 

Calcarious earths, especially those of a chalky formation, give a 
magnificent crop to the Vine, and the wines are very pure, light and 
inviting. Such are the Vineyards of the Marne, the Cher, the Creuse ; 
tliose of the Crouds, (Loire and Charente.) The growth is very 
slow, it is true, but once well rooted, the advantage is foimd in the 
long run. The more drj', arid, light, and imfit for other crops is the 
calcarious soil, the better it turns out for the Vine. The water with 
wliich it becomes impregnated at intervals, circulates and penetrates 
freely through the stratum ; the innumerable ramifications of the 
roots imbibe it at every pore ; the culture is easy, so thrifty is ever}' 
stock ; and the wine produced is lively. 

Earths composed of mouldering granite, the disintegrated parts of 
which are nearly reduced into a friable sand, furnish -vvines fine 
coloured, full of zest, and spirit, and of an aromatic flavour, very 
agreeable. Such are the Vineyards of Mans, Eeaune, ReaucouUe ; of 
Muret and Bessas* (township of Tain, department de la Drome ;) of 
Cote-Rotic (department du Rhone.) of MouUn-a-Vent, (township of 
Romaneche, department of Saone and Loire) ; those of Rochemaure, 
department of Ardeche ; and those of the shores of the Rhine. 

Strong, stiff, or clayey loams are not at all fitted for the Vine ; they 
do not allow the roots to spread and ramify sufficiently; besides which, 
the constancy with which the layers of this compact earth are satu- 
rated with wet, and retain moisture, keeps up, around the roots, a 
permanent humidity, which rots their fibre, and is soon fatal to the 
slip. 

Volcanic grounds, and soils of mouldering tufo and basalt, are fa- 
mous for delicious wines ; they ofier an intimate mixture of every earthy 
principle ; and their semi-vitrified particles, decomposed by the com- 
bined action of the air and water, afibrd all the essentials of a brill- 

*More orenerally known by the name of Hermitage wine; Fin dc 

V Hermitage 



29 



iant vegetation to the plant ; and communicate to its liquor a portion 
of the fire by which the soil has been permeated and impregnated. 
The oest stocks of Italy are those which are planted among the ruins 
of volcanoes. The crop of wine from the extinct volcano at the foot 
of which the to^vn of Agde is built, is one of the richest in the South 
of France. 

Thus, all light earths, whatever be their colour, that are porous, 
fine and friable in their composition, and in which water does not 
abide or collect, either on the surface or below, are such as are suit- 
able for the plant, and requisite for the quality of the wine. 

The knowledge of the soil being acquired, the next question will be, 
the situation that should be selected. Some writers have recom- 
mended high grounds for the Vine. Bacchus amat colles : says the 
Latin proverb, to which they so strictly adhere, that they even de- 
clare that the elaboration of the sap cannot be complete, unless upon 
acclivities or flanks of hills ; and that good wine cannot be raised on 
plains ! And yet, in the face of this, what excellent Vineyards are 
there not in plains ! Medoc, (department de la Gironde) is wholly a 
champaign country ; and there we know, are situated the enclosures 
of Lajitte, Chateau Margoux, Leoville, Larose, Branc-Mouton &c. 
the wines of which are pure, very high, smooth, velvetty, frill of force 
and fire, with a flavour like the odour of the violet or the raspberry. 
The Vines of Saint-Denis and Sandillon, (department du Loiret,^ 
and those which give the best Orleans wines, are the growth of plains. 
The well-known Vineyards of Tonnerre, Chablis, (department de L' 
Yonne,) Banks of the Rhone, and mostly all those which yield the 
wines known in commerce by the name of Vins de Languedoc fins, 
are situated on plains also. 

Meanwhile I should not forget to say, that in warm countries the 
Vine of course, thrives in elevated situations. Abyssinia, Mount Leb- 
anon, the highest table lands of Mexico; the up-country in the Caroli- 
nas ; and the Cordillera over which passes the route from Buenos 
Ayres to St. Jago de Chili, bear witness to the fact. The Vine meets 
there with a temperature equivalent to the mildest regions. 

Rising grounds are as good as any situation, if they ascend by a 
gradual slope and are not surrounded by dense woodlands. The sum- 
mits of hills or ridges, are, on the whole, unfavorable ; they lie open 
to every change of the atmosphere, and every movement of the air 
is felt upon them ; which the Vine cannot bear, as it becomes worn 
and stunted if swept by winds. The fogs too that collect there are 
very injurious : and there is no shelter on them from white frosts, 



30 



vrhich are very fatal. The ground lymg in swales, or at tiie base oi 
rising grounds, has also its inconveniences ; the soil is naturally con- 
tinually saturated with humidity ; and the air is loaded with damp. 
The skirts of hills when not too sudden in descent, and slopes gra- 
dually sweUing from a plain, are the true positions for the Vine. 

Good stocks are rarely to be found in narrow vales, ravines, or 
dells, through which a stream of water flows, on account o£ the winds 
and currents of cold air daily prevalent in such places ; and the 
fog-damp and mists incessantly maintained by the evaporation. But 
we must not, from this fact, conclude that no good Vine can be raised 
beside rimning water : as some agriculturists believe. A stream 
adjacent is dangerous only, when tlie slopes that verge to it are not 
open and free to the solar action. The wines of the Rhone, Gi- 
ronde and Marne witness to this fact. 

The direct action of the sun is one essential. It is this powerful 
agency alone, that can mature the high quahties of the grape ; 
every tree therefore that may interpose a shade and exhaust the soil 
should be cleared away. In some places, where frosts are apt to 
fall upon the Vines, a custom prevails of planting the Vineyards with 
trees, such as the peach, apple, ohve, nut, cherry, Sec. which is wrong, 
though we may mention by the way the year 1797, in which every 
stock in the departments of L* Yonne and Cote-d Or, that wa^ not 
gheltered by trees, was frozen. The principle, notwithstanding this 
anomaly, is rigorously exact ; if we are anxious that the grapo should 
attain its full ripeness and saccharine properties, on which its value 
and utihty depend. Large plants deduct both light and heat £rom 
the Viae ; the least hurtful axe the peach, almond and ohve txees. 

It sometimes happens in very superior vine-grounds, that in some 
of the most suitable situations for the Vine, there are spots where 
wines of a very poor quahty are gathered close beside those of the best. 
Such, for instance, is the small Vineyard of Mant Rochet, (dept. 
Cote d'Or:) it is distinguished by three divisions, separated from 
each other only by a narrow path, and termed, Canton de l Ainc, 
Canton- Che vaher, Canton-Batard. Though the exposure of all is en 
tirely the same ;. though the nature of the soil, at least, as for the lay- 
ers next to the surface, is also tlie same in all ; and that the stocks, all 
of the same species, receive the same tillage and culture ; and the 
grapes are subjected to the same processes of fabrication ; still it is 
an undeniable fact, that the wine of Mont Rachet-Aine, possesses 
every requisite of a finished wine; having body, much spirit and 
heighth, a very pleasant nutty taste, acd especially a fine zest and a 



31 



oouquet, the strength aiid sweetness of which distinguish it above 
every wine of that departments while that of the Rachet- Chevalier 
does not posses those qualities in the same degree ; and scarce any of 
them are found in the Rachet-Batard. This difference is owing, of 
course, to the nature or position of the inferior strata or beds of the 
soil; or, to tell the truth, it would be hard to assign the right cause. 
But for my own part, I am persuaded that it results from the lower 
layers, over which the tillage has no effect; for the utensils we use 
cannot be exerted to a greater depth than 3 feet, without a consider- 
able expense, that may be useless, and in most cases beyond the 
means of the Vine-dresser. In such cases it must be that the stratum 
of cultivable soil is but shallow, with some rock or bed of clay be- 
neath it, impermeable to the roots. It might be of service therefore 
to pierce from space to space deep holes with an auger, to give the 
tap and running roots ccmvenient entrances into which they might 
insinuate themselves, to seek in the h^ats of summer and times of 
drcu^t for the proper degree of moisturcj requisite for the thriving 
of the plant. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE CULTURE OF THE VINE 

The greater number of those who have written on the Vine, have 
contented themselves with simply describing the culture in use in 
their own quarters ; and from that deduced principles and methods, 
which they want to see applied as general rules for all vineyards. 
There are, indeed, general principles which may be apphed in all 
cases ; but every soil and every position, we may even say, every cor- 
ner of the same hectare, demands some difference in the plantings til- 
lage, or manuring, with regard to the ground, its direction, nature, 
bottom, exposure, and a crowd of accidental circumstances. The 
proprietor soon learns to calculate these chances and apply regular 
rules to them and it is his province to discern between those which 
may prove useful and those which are defective. 

But there is one great question to be resolved on the mode of cul- 
ture : it is one of importance, as the ripening of the grape depends 
upon it ; it is on the height to which the stock should be trained . 
Some prefer that it should be kept tall, and spiry ; others low and 
running. To ascertain which is right, we must examine without pre- 
judice, well appreciating the real motives of both parties; after whicli 
I shall give the result of my own observation, supported by the expe- 
rience of several proprietors, men of sense and instruction. 



Of the TALL-STOCK, OR RUNNING ViNE. 

The mode of cultivating the vine by festooning and supporting i-. 
on trees and palissades comes to us from the ancient Romans : i: 
is still peculiar to Upper Italy ; and to the departments of Isere, 
Drome, Alpes, Basses Pyrennes, Bas-Rhin, Charente-Inferieure, and 
Arriege, which received it from the first Roman Colonies. The man- 
ner is this ; either one or two vine slips are set out near a mulberry, 
'!herry, elm or maple ; if only one. it entwines its long'stems among 



tue boughs of the tree ; and. together, they form a close shrubby cop- 
pice; the grapes, liidden under the thick mass of leaves, are generally 
green, and uninviting in taste, because deprived of the action of the 
sun ; the wine made from them is thin, poor and acerb, wanting both 
sugar and spirit. When there are two slips, they rise together to the 
fork, and then are divided and led off to neighbouring trees in oppo- 
site directions.* This fashion is better than the former for ripening 
the grape ; and the intermediary ground is devoted to grain or pulse. 
This method is very pleasing to the eye, but is rarely practised with 
intelligence and discrimination. The trees are ordinarily too close 
and cast too much shade. There is, besides, some danger attending 
the culture ; among the Romans there was an express stipulation al- 
ways made between the proprietors and vine-dressers, that if the 
latter, in pruning, should fall and lose their lives, the former should 
be at the expense of the burial. Besides, the grapes on the very sum- 
mit of the tree are the only ones that make good wine ; the lower 
branches are more loaded with cluste rs, but the wine, though abun- 
dant, is coarse. 

There are some parts where, in place of trees, they make use 
of tall props 8 or 9 feet in height, of reasonable thickness, and with 
one or more forks or rests. They are placed as far asunder as their 
height ; and the branches of the Vines are thrown along them from 
one to the other, in tiers, forming festoons delightful to the eye, 
and giving to the fields an air of opulence. This mode is in vogue 
at Saint Thierry (department de la Marne) and is very costly ; but 
the grape ripens v/ell, it is so exposed to the air and sun. It can 
only be made use of in strong, substantial soils. 

In some places, particularly at Weissenbourg (department du Eas- 
Rhine) the Vine is trained over arbours ; aud in others, it is paled up 
against walls of various heights. Tne arbour-training suits gardens, 
but still it were better set aside, for the clusters are too much kept 
from the sun, and the height at which they are borne exposes them 
to the chiUing infiuence of the winds. The method only answers 
where there are very heavy dues after hot days, exposing the fruit to 
mildew. 

2. Of the low stock. 
The low training is derived from the Grecians, and was introduced 
into France by the Phocian colony of Marseilles. From the Soutli 
the Vine has spread over our country even into Belgium, and with it 

- *Among the Romans, one tree was made to bear as many as ten 
slips, and never less then three. Columella, de re rustica, lib. V. cap 4 
Plin. Hi^t. Kat. XVIJ. 23. The trees were placed 20 feet apart. 



34 



the provaiiing method of the low stock has been adopted : and it seems 
the most natural, and is the most easy and advantageous. 

It has undergone many different modifications, however ; sometimes 
the plants are supported on props from 1 to 3 feet high ; again the 
whole Vine is trailing, one stem laying over another ; or the stock 
is kept so short that it stands alone, and the branches trail ; otherwise, 
some slender poles or stakes are stuck into the ground around the 
plant, forming a circle, around which circle the stems are led and fas- 
tened. In the departments of Bouches-du-Rhone, Gard, Herault, 
Aube, and indeed in almost all the most southerly ones, the slips 
are kept verj far apart, and their stock, which bears the yearling 
wood, is allowed about two feet of heighth, clear of branches. These 
are called running Vines. In the environs of Grenoble, Lyons, Au- 
tiin, Auxerre, Troyes, Orleans, Agen, Albo, Cahors, in all Medoc, 
and even in some Vineyards of Rheims and Laon, the Vines 
are fastened to low trellises, either in rows very wide apart, or a 
trellise to each stock, but both raised only about 1 foot above the 
ground. 

On the hills near the burgh d' Argence (department du Calvados) 
and also in the environs of Rochelle, no props are used, and the Vines 
lie on the ground till the fruit is nearly ripe ; then the ends of the 
branches are gathered together and tied, and the whole forms a heap, 
on which the grapes are outwards ; they are thus exposed to the sun, 
but the wine is scanty and of a common sort. The young Vines of 
Bordeaux, Lyons, Angers, &c. which used to be kept in this man- 
ner are now tied against a prop, because the shoots are very long, 
and have not strength enough to support themselves. 

Counter-espalier Training. 

Roger Schabol, who was so well versed in the art of gardening, 
is the inventor of this system, which is now adopted in a great many 
of our departments. It consists in disposing the plants in parallel 
rows, athwart, so that they may enjoy the sun equally. The train- 
ing is performed at the third or fourth year from the setting out, in 
counter-espalier mode ; strong posts, four feet high, are planted in 
straight lines, the rows six feet apart ; about mid-high on these 
posts, and running from one end to the other of the row, there is 
a range of slender rests laid crosswise, and at top, another range 
laid in a straight line. When the Vines are fit to bind (m place of 
training the shoots vertically or perpendicularly, as is done when 
they are bound to props, or even when they are fastened to such trelli- 



35 



ses as are used at Auxerre,) the shoots, left and right, are slanted 
backward and forward along the row of cross rests, till the espalier is 
complete, and the space on both sides of the stem or stock, is filled up 
completely. They are led along this way until they reach the top 
rest, to which they are bound, and along which they form a close 
wreath or cornice the whole length of the line. To make them close 
and cover in the whole espalier well and handsomely, the ends of the 
shoots must not be clipped until the rests seem to have as much as^ 
they can bear ; and as fast as they grow they must be wound together. 
This method produces immense quantities of perfect clusters ; owing 
to the stems having the full advantage of the sun, and the sap by 
that means being more mature ; the grape too is sure to ripen, and 
acquires a high flavour. 

Another not less remarkable advantage is the lengthening of the 
shoots, which are not stopped until they have spent their strength. 
The Vine, by this means, does not exhaust itself in a continuous for- 
mation of false buds and second shoots, which drain the 'juices of 
the wood, and impoverish its vigor: and the serpentining of the shoots 
causes a circulation and impulsion of the sap, more regular and 
useful to the plant. 

Pyramid Training. 

In the view of rendering the cultivation of the Vine less laborious 
and less costly, and more ready and productive, a great many French 
Vine-growers, following the example of those of Baden, and for one 
instance M. C. B. Frost, of Andelau, near Strasburg, rear the Vine 
in Cones, or to say better, Pyramids. This method is one which me- 
rits being well known. I shall therefore enter into the closest possi- 
ble details, to render the manner of it clear from first to last. 

After having marked out the ground in parallel lines 8 feet apart, 
there must, the first year, be set checker-wise along these lines, small 
stakes 8 feet apart also. Cutting from the south, (or from whichever 
aspect you intend the Vineyard to have) you then trench the ground, 
opposite each stake, in oblong squares, 2 feet long and 1 foot broad, 
and, according to the depth of the soil, from 18 inches to a foot in 
depth ; the ground lifted out is heaped beside the stake, and serves, 
at a future period, to lay over the roots. These trenches should be 
thoroughly ridded of pebbles or stones, which, in the end, would cause 
trouble in setting out the props. 

The young Vines, early in autumn, are to be set out in these slo- 
ping^^ trenches, without any previous digging or disturbing of the soil ; 



the roots spread out without confusion, the stalk near at hand to tiie 
stake, and the first eye, counting from the roots, 4 inches lower than 
the surface of the ground. Not a root should be cut or shortened, 
unless it has been broken and damaged. The strongest stem or stalk 
is the only one to be left outwards ; all others must be laid down aa 
if they were roots. These small trenches are then loosely filled with 
the earth that had been removed from them, as the eyes of the plant 
Avill thereby run less risk through the winter. 

This manner of setting out young Vines allows the roots a full 
chance of penetrating the soil in every direction, and the heat of the 
sun reaches them gradually and more thoroughly. In the spring as 
soon as the weather is favourable, the earth should be cleared down 
a little from the young plants, so as to lower the level of the soil 
collected about the stake, and the stems or branches upon the main- 
stem are to be pruned ; only one good eye is left ; the knife is laid as- 
lant, and the wood is cut sloping backwards opposite to the eye that 
is kept, and about the third of an inch above it. The shoots as soon 
as they grow long enouifh should be tied to the stake ; there should 
not be allowed more than two to each Vine. 

The following year, these two shoots have now become woody 
stems ; they too are pruned down to a single eye. But should there 
have been only one sprout, the pruning-knife must leave upon it two 
eyes. From these, there will, accordingly, be two shoots, and when 
Ihey are 18 inches long, they must be topped, and tied ; the wood by 
this, becomes the stronger. 

In the spring of the fourth year, which is when the Vine buds for 
the third time, the posts are to be set up where the stakes stood. 
The two stems are then to be pruned, one to 5 and the other to 6 
eyes. They are to be turned spirally around their prop, both in the 
same direction, leaving about 3 or 4 inches interval between each 
twist. Each of the stems are to be tied fast. The two uppermost 
shoots also, are tied, and topped when they are large enough. Some 
fruit is borne this season. As for the posts they should be round, 
strong, straight, 6 inches in thickness and 9 feet in height ; of locust 
for dry, light soils, and chesnut or heart of oak for others. The end 
that is put in the ground should be thick painted with melted pitch. 
In the fifth year the pyramids begin to take a form ; according to the 
taste, they may be made triangular, square, five or six-sided, but a 
circular form is preferable ; having no saliant points it is not inconve- 
nient like the others. The two uppermost stems are pruned as before, 
and with them, the spiral, always in the same direction, is continued. 
The other stems, which are called side-runners^ are cut down to three 
eyes and are left gadding, 



37 



When the blossom has fallen and the berry is moulded, the shoott! 
on the side-runners are nipped or shred down to six eyes. They arc 
kept short to allow the Vine a free circulation of the air. The upper- 
most shoots are topped also and tied as before. 

At this time the Vine which has not more than one eighth of the 
height, and scarcely a sixth of the breadth which it has yet to attain, 
furnishes already from twenty to thirty clusters ; that is to say, it 
produces as much as a Vine, kept in the ordinary way, that has its 
full growth. 

In the sixth year the pyramids begin to ascend, and look shapely. 
The two uppermost sprouts are pruned as the year before, one down 
to 5 eyes, the other to 6 ; and the spiral is continued; care being taken 
to wind and bind them before the buds begin to show out, not to risk 
breaking them off, and spoiling the regularity of the Cone. The last 
year's sprouts on the side-runners are now cut down to4 eyes ; if there 
are lateral sprouts on these again, they are not suppressed, but accor- 
ding to their strength are left with 1 or 2 eyes at most. The upper- 
most stems are tied up and topped when too long, as before ; this ope- 
ration is performed when the berry has set. The Vines, this season 
yieW, from thirty to sixty clusters a piece. 

In the seventh year, all the same processes are performed, the same 
as the preceding year ; and from fifty to a hundred clusters are gath- 
ered from every Vine. During the eighth and ninth years, the same 
attentions are given until the spiral has reached the top of the post. 
From this time forth, whatever surmounts the post is to be pruned 
down every spring, while the side-runners are to be allowed a little 
longer than before. The diameters of the base and of the summit, 
should be in the proportion of two to one, or three to one in places expo- 
sed to the force of tlie wmds. There need be no anxiety about the 
too great spreading of the outer circumference ; if determined to 
prune it into shape, allow the wood time to strengthen, and proportion 
the clipping as the side shoots become firm and stout. But in no case 
must there be more than two eyes left on a side shoot ; even some 
of the side runners, and at any rate some of the side shoots should be 
thmned out, if they are too numerous and crowded ; without this 
precaution they will reeiprocaily weaken and stifle each other. A 
Vineyard of 2000 stocks trained in the above manner, and thinned 
inthe fall, in cool years, of those leaves which hide the sun from the 
clusters, yields yearly 26 000 gals, of wine ; while on the other hand, 
6000 Vine-stocks trained in the ordinary way produce in common 
seasons only from 780 to 1300 gallons, and in the very best seasons 
only about 2600 gallon?- 



38 



Remarks on the preceding mode^. 

The greater the height at which the Vine is kept, the less it ma- 
tures well ) especially in a northerly latitude ; it will, however, reach 
the ripening point if planted in a sandy ground: but that will be vainly 
looked for in a compact, clayey soil. As far north as Paris, the Vine 
should be planted in rows rather wide apart, and the stocks kept 
no higher than 18 or 20 inches. To give full play to the circulation 
of the air, and to allow the liumidity to be absorbed more easily and 
promptly, the ranges or rows should be palissaded espalier-like, that 
the shoots may keep in the hedge-row form. 

To cultivate the Vine in festoons, or the tall-stock training, requires 
a warm country. The low-stock is more generally suitable, agreeing 
with all climates, and all soils. The pyramid training has all the ad- 
vantages of the counter-espalier mode, conducted in the most discrim- 
inating manner. It requires it is true, a perfect knowledge of the 
pruning of trees, to attend to it as it should be done ; but happily 
the Vine is so tenacious of life, that a few mistakes will not be fatal 
to it. Beside the economy of time in training, the considerable in- 
crease of the crop, both for quality and quantity, and the remarkable 
diminution of expense in the cultivation, the pyramid mode permits 
the Vine-grower to raise, at the same time, the grain necessary for 
his subsistence, and reduces to one third, the expense of timber for 
posts. These two latter considerations are important ; in France it 
is so costly to be obliged to cut saplings for props, that a method by 
which they can be spared to the forests is very welcome ; and by gi- 
ving a variety of crops to small vine-yards, the owners will not, in 
barren grape seasons, be forced to run into debt for their very bread. 

This mode, it may be said, requires time, which is true, especially 
when setting out on this plan ; but the return is so much more 
abundant than by the usual methods, and is given so long before 
the finishing hand has been put to the architecture of the pyramids, 
that patience becomes less of a burthen than would be expected. 
It can be easily adapted to Vines kept in counter-espalier ; and to be 
introduced into Vineyards kept under any other sort of training, costs 
very little expense ; and even the first year, not a third of the crop 
is lost by it. To train coimter-espalier Vines in this way, the posts 
should be set out checker-wise, on the first, third, fifth lines and so 
on ; the two stems of old wood, that are nearest left and right, are 
drawn to the post ; and as the shoots of counter-espalier Vines spring 
from very low, the two lowermost shoots are selected ; one from each 



oi' the above mentioned old runners, and with these the spiral is com- 
menced. The intermediary range of espalier is suffered to remain ; 
and the remainder of the wood-work left, should be sufficient to sup- 
port the rest of the stocks that still keep the old hedge-row. 

To change the fashion of any other Vines,it is necessary to begin 
in the spring, bj lopping with a sloping cut, every other stock, in 
every other row ; they should be lopped as low as possible ; it is 
even advantageous to cut nearly an inch or two below the surface of 
the ground, if the upper roots will allow. The edges of the wound 
should be drawn together, and anointed well with gardener's wax, to 
prevent bleeding. The old posts are left standing to support the new 
shoots which will sprout from the shortened stocks, on which only 
two shoots apiece are to be allowed ; and they must be topped when 
they are two feet in length, to give them a chance to grow stronger. 
The following spring the spiral must be commenced ; the Vines sprout 
vigorously, and the shoots bear that fall. By degrees, as the pyramids 
increase in height, the runners of the other stocks are pruned shorter 
and shorter, until finally even the stocks themselves must be cut 
through underground, enough to destroy vitality. 

Trellise Training. 

By this title I do not mean to designate the paling of Vines against 
walls or trellises in gardens, but that culture only which is practised 
on the largest scale on the Chasselas grape in the village of Thomery 
near Fontambleau. There alone is this sort of training so conducted 
as to yield a handsome revenue to the cultivators. It will be perceiv- 
ed that it is adapted to the climate of Paris. The wall against which 
the Thomery Vine-dressers plant the slips is 7 feet in height, and roof- 
ed with tiles that jut 8 inches beyond it, forming a cornice destined to 
shelter the grape from the rain, without shading it too much. The 
wall is carefully rough cast, with mortar ; and at every 3 feet of space 
iron hooks, soldered fast with lead, are cramped into it, to support the 
rungs of the trellise. An easterly exposure, on which the sun falls 
till one or two o'clock in the afternoon is esteemed the most favourable 

The trellise is formed, from top to bottom, by nine horizontal sup- 
ports or bands, slung into the iron cramps ; and which are to support 
the main-runners of the vine. These runners are called wreatlis 
or belts, and are led off on the right and on the left. The perpendicu- 
lar supports or joists are about 2 feet high, and are tied fast with iron 
wire, to the horizontal ones. 

The slips with roots* having been carefully prepared and kept, 

* Each slip is set out in a slender basket ; this precaution renders the 
first crop a year earlier : it is gathered the following autumn 



40 



during a year, in good ground, mixed with vegetable mould, art- 
set out in the month of November, viith their first roots, at about 4 
inches from the wall ; they are planted 15 inches deep, and over against 
the perpendicular joists 2 feet high. Each slip gradually gives a belt 
on both sides of the stalk, which is led horizontally along the rungs 
or supports ; the ground is not to be manured until the second year 
after planting, and to preserve its nutritive freshness, large flat stones 
are laid around the slips along the walls, and are not removed or 
displaced for a number of years. 

Commonly towards the close of February, and always at the wane 
of the moon, the prumng is performed by cutting away all the brush 
of the last year or preceding years, until there is but one bud left on 
each branch or stem from the main stalk, these pruned shoots must 
also be 7 inches apart from each other. The ascending main-stalk 
is allowed one bud. 

In the month of jNIarch or May, according as the season is early or 
not, the clipping is performed; only two spurs are to be left on each 
second shoot ; and it is always those nearest the wall that will feel the 
refraction of the sun the most, that are to be preserved. The binding 
or act of fastening the new stems to the horizontal rungs, with old, 
soaked rushes, is to be begun when they have obtained such a length 
that there is danger of their being broken by the rain or the wind. 

The flower, fragrant as mignonette, opens during the last 10 days 
of June ; the green berry soon follows ; upon which, in abundant 
years, that the large wood may not be exhausted or overdrawn, so 
as to injure the next year's crop, upon each shoot the two finest bunch- 
es only are to be left. The leaves cover and shelter the young fruit 
against the too great heat of the sun, and damages from heavy rains 
or hail. But as soon as the heat becomes more temperate, a part of 
the foliage is taken oflT, leaving only what is necessary to protect the 
fruit, without hindering the effect of the sun, which colors the grape, 
or the dews, which mellow it. The cluster being so near the hot 
surface of the wall, gilds easily, and offers tlie fragrant, firm, sugary, 
bland fruit, which is the wealth of Thomery. To keep this grape 
fresh, the bunches are hung from the ceiling by a string slung 
tlirough the upper branches of the bunch, not tied to the end of tlie 
bunch stalk. 



CHAPTER V. 



oj\ the selection a.xd setting out of :slips. 

It must be already evident, from what has been previously stated; 
that every Vineyard is not planted with the same species ; some even 
are composed of as many as twelve or twenty hap-hazard sorts, from 
which it results, that in the vintage season, very few of the bunches 
collected are at the same seasonable point of ripeness ; all others, each 
with the mixture of tartar peculiar to their kinds, give to the wine 
as many different degrees of tartness ; which can only be overcome 
by adding to the must the saccharine matter that is wantintr. A 
selection of several kinds should be planted ; not to do so, is wantonly 
to run the chance of a failure of the whole crop. And, there should 
not be more than five or six kinds chosen, but these should be of the 
best species for wine ; and all sorts should be rigidly rejected that 
are subject to the Blight, or Damping off of the blossom ; as well as 
those that cannot stand drought, and also such as are hable to rot in 
rainy seasons. By thus setting out from five to six varieties of the 
Vine, there is some one kind that Avill bear, when meteoric changes 
of the weather have been unfavorable to all others ; and the wine 
from such a mixture is always preferable. 

As each variety has a date for ripening, the utmost variation of 
which is from twelve days to a fortnight between the several kinds, 
the intelKgent vinedresser will study to give them such an aspect as 
will equalize this difference as much as possible. The early kinds 
should be planted in the liigher parts of the Vineyard, and the later 
in the middle, especially if the Vineyard is on the side of a hill. 

Many planters look out for varieties that are great bearers ; this is 
not good policy, for it is well known that the more fruitful the Vine, 
the less excellent the wine ; the grapes are too crowded, not enjoying 
the free contact of the air : they camiot ripen so generally as is need- 
ed, and not having the full benefit of the sun, their juices are coarse, 
and not sufficiently eUminated. In consequence of this false calcula- 
tion many a Vine-dresser has become reduced in circumstances ; and 
the Vines of Argenteuil, near Paris, that enjoj'-ed a very high reputa 
tion in the fifteenth century, are latterly of an inferior cliaracter 
especiallv since 1750, in consequence of this false policv. 



42 



Great consideration therefore should be given to the nature ot' the 
species selected, as the quality of the wine depends upon it. Propi- 
tious situations and fertile soils are wasted upon poor varieties ; the 
must that is hard and carb ance never be turned mto good wine. 
The best grape is that which contains the most pulpy matter ; and 
wii^es of price are unitonnly from such grapes. 

To make a sure, correct, and safe selection, it is necessary to exa- 
mine well one's own vineyard and those of the neighbouring districtt^, 
a week before the harvest. From these the slips should be selected, 
as the plant best naturalized is the most thrifty, and most certain to 
yield perfect fruit. It is not so advantageous as some are fain to say 
and to believe, that the scions should be taken from the vineyards of 
the South ; the growth of them there is more rank than in more 
northerly cUmates ; and when transplanted to a situi^tion not analogous 
in temperature and rapid evolution ot earthy gaseous compounds, 
although the)'^ may seem to prosper awhile, they soon dwindle and fail. 

The custom is, to mix the red and the white grape. Three fourths 
of the Vineyard should consist of the former. It contains the mosi 
colouring matter, and is less susceptible of the vinous fermentation ; 
by prolonging which operation, and delaying the insensible spirituous 
fermentation, which the red grape does effect, the acid fermentation 
is put off. The white grai>e refines the wine, unparting to it flavours 
that are racy and delicate. 

Several months before planting it is advisable to have the ground 
dug to the depth of 1 or 2 feet. This prehminary operation is too 
often neglected, but has a sensible effect on the prosperity of the 
Vineyard. The second point to which attention is solicited, is, not 
to place a new Vine in the spot from which an old one has been 
iust removed. The earth must be allowed time to resume its vigour : 
when this is neglected, the new Vine sprouts feebly, and soon lan- 
guishes. 

The setting out should be done in the fall, by which a year is 
gained, — it may be said two. Of a certain number of Vine slips, let 
half be planted in the fall, and half in the following spring, in the 
same soil and beside each other ; at the end of the fifth year the 
former will have borne fruit for the third time, while the latter, at 
the same period, have barely proved their species. Besides, it is an 
established fact, that trees planted in the latter part of the year usually 
succeed, while those set out in spring, send forth but weakly shoots, 
and few survive. But in all things, climate must be consulted; in 
the South, the setting out should be done at the fall of the leaf, be- 
cause the roots during winter grow and spread, and stretch to great 



4o 



distances in search of the nutritious juices destined for the plant, 
which, by this means, can brave the drought which threatens its 
existence during the warm season. But in our northern plantations 
the most auspicious time is when the dangerous period of hard frosts 
and frequent rains is over, that is, about the 20th of February. To 
delay it until April, when the earth begins to be warmed by tlie sun ; 
and when the evaporation of moisture, and of the rains and dews is 
rapid, leads to much disappointment. The slips perish entirely in 
dry springs ; and at an)^ rate are disturbed in taking root, and are 
evidently thrown back, by the stir and movement of the season of 
germination. 

For setting out, either suckers or layers, or slips, are used. Suck- 
ers or layers are raised with a root after the vintage ; the slips are 
from cuttings picked out at the time of pruning. The Vines are put 
down in straight lines where the descent is not too rapid, in curves 
or amphitheatre-like where there is a great declivity. The plants 
should be about ten feet from each other in the line, and between each 
Jine should be left an interval of four and an half feet; they must 
be set so as to face one another in every other line, which gives a 
proportionate distance between them on every side. The layering of 
layers for a new plantation is very hurtful to the old stocks, owing to 
their young and vigorous roots wliich drain the parent plant ; it is 
esteemed better to have recourse to cuttings , they are planted in good 
fresh ground, and when they take root are easily transplanted. It is 
well to observe by the way, that the cuttings need not be set out in a 
rich soil ; when this precaution is neglected in the nurseries of young 
Vines, the slip sprouts rapidly, the roots shoot far and increase fast ; 
but when transplanted, it is not often that the new soil is equal to 
the old ; in which case, to the planters chagrin, his slips dwindle and 
decline. An opposite treatment insures great vigor and the prospect 
of long duration to the new Vines. A Vineyard from cuttings lives 
the longest, and is the most fruitful, one from scions yields sooner. 
The former mode is preferred by those who know how to sacrifice the 
present for the future ; the latter by those who must be gratified im- 
mediately. Those who adopt the former mode have an eye to the 
prospects of their children as well as themselves ; and such not un- 
frequently, have their Vineyards renewed every forty years from plan- 
tations of seedlings. This mode certainly regenerates those primitive 
quaUties of the species which successive planting from cuttings seems 
to weaken; the wine acquires a very agreeable bouquet; and the 
yield is considerable. 

It is best to set a greater number of cuttings than will be v^'anted. 



44 



which gives a chance to select the strongest and most forward sUps 
Before transplanting them, isolated pits, or what is better, trenches, 
the whole length of the intended line should be opened, of a depth 
and width according to the nature of the soil; if it is very meagre, 
they should be both deep and wide ; the roots will have to travel far. 
and put under contribution a greater superficies ; in these parts, the 
trench is made about 2 feet deep, and feet wide. In good soil, 
a foot and a half of depth against a foot of breadth is sufficient. 
When placing the new slip in the trench, care must be taken to pul- 
verize the soil that is to cover the roots ; the vegetable earth on the 
surface is to be turned down upon them ; that v/hich, having been 
underneath, has not been mellowed by exposure to the air, is unfit 
to give them a favorable start. Very old stocks are slow of growth, 
and bear no good wood for cuttings, which should be taken from se- 
ven or eight year old Vines ; the last year's shoots are not proper 
for this purpose ; it is the two year old wood that is found preferable 
in every point of view ; the best time for setting them out is when 
the ground is not over moist. Where there is a rocky bottom near 
at hand, [in which we counsel the use of the auger,] the roots will 
not speedily take the same volume as m good, fair soil ; therefore at 
the bottom of the pit in which the slip is to be set, moistened ashes 
should be laid, which keeps up the freshness of the ground, pre- 
venting the baking and reflected heat from withering and drying the 
thinly covered roots. 

Our Vine-growers are so oppressed by imposts, that they are obli- 
ged to increase their income by continually renewing their Vines. 
It is a pity that this necessity exists ; the aged Vines, it is true, are 
scant bearers, and the fruit is very small ; but the wine is always of a 
very superior quaUty. Young Vines are full of fruit, but the wine 
from them is inferior ; still it is very profitable, and though less flavo- 
rous, furnishes abimdantly for distillation. A proof of this difference 
I may give ; the wines of Clos-Vougeot ( Cote d'Or.) which are so very 
fine and choice, have diminished in value, since the frequently hun- 
dred-year-old stocks have been grubbed up and new ones planted. 

It has been stated that trees were injurious in Vineyards ; the ques- 
tion now is, are all other kinds of vegetation equally improper. All 
kinds of vegetables are hurtful when the Vines are planted in close 
rows. Lentils and lupins are never injurious. All sorts of grain 
beans, pease and potatoes, injure the Vines more or less according 
to the vigor with which each drains the soil, or the poor or rich 
nature of the ground. It is astonishing how much they will throw 
back a Vineyard in the first three years of its plantation. It is bet- 



45 



ler to sow nothing and dig the ground frequently; and the crops 
repay the labour with usury. 

There are many weeds which trouble Vineyards and which should 
be kept down as much as possible ; the few that are turned in by 
ploughing or digging enrich the soil. Of these the marygold, aristo- 
lochia, vervain, mercury and briar are accused of imparting a bad 
flavour to the wine. It is to be presumed that these accusations are 
exaggerated. 

Of all the means employed or proposed to give additional vigour 
to the Vine, there is none more effectual than that intimate ming- 
ling and shifting of the soil produced by frequent and well directed 
tillage. This incorporation increases the quantity of salts already in 
the soil, and like a leaven, excites a fermentation in them which leads 
to fresh combinations, and gives a new impulse to vegetation. 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF THE TILLAGE OF THE VL\E., 

Tillage assists the efforts of nature, by developing those principles 
of fertility inherent in the soil. The mode, frequency, and season for 
tilling, varies according to localities. Where the ground is dry it 
should be only slightly raked ; when the layer is not very deep, it 
f^hould be well turned up. In many of our southern departments, the 
plough or the hoe are used ; in the rsorth, pick-axes of different forms, 
some times even the dibble, or even a large rake. The plough is 
the most economical means. It cuts up and divides the soil deeply; 
and throws it up against the stock. It neither hurts the branches 
nor second-shoots, when, in the first tilling, the yoke is four feet ten 
inches long. 

Next to the plough the mattock is the best. The one in use in 
the neighbourhood of Paris, is a foot long and six inches wide, with a 
short and crooked wooden handle ; but it obliges the vine-dresser to 
stoop much, and is very fatiguing. Three sorts of hoes are used ; a 
square one for compact mould destitute of stones and gravel ; a trian- 
gular one for hard soils full of sand and gravel ; a third kind with two or 
three teeth, is reserved for light and gravelly, or pebbly ground. H'oe - 
ing must be carried deep, and requires great strength ; it is the sever- 
est sort of tillage. The gardener's dibble and the rake are an expense 
quite disproportioned to their utility ; in other words, they are not 
worth the money they cost for all the good they procure. Where the 
Vineyard is situated on a declivity, it is best to till the ground diagon- 
ally in preference to digging or ploughing iip and down, which assists 
the rains in carrying away the lightest and best soil from the upper 
parts. After planting, there must be one hoeing to level ridges and 
heaps, and loosen them to give the young roots free access on all 
sides. In tilling, a small hollow must be formed around the foot of 
each Vine, to detain a proper moisture for the tender roots. The tall- 
stock traimng requires four tillings ; there is only one time for tillage 
with the low-stock ; when the shoots begin to spread there is a risk 
of breaking the branches and losing the fruit. The ploughing should 
be done as early as possible, and the digging as late as possible, say 
about the end' of August. This operation kills the weeds, loosens the 



47 



soil, admits the air, and the penetration of the solar heat, all which 
increase the sweetness of the grape, and tend to secure its ripemng 
richly. 

It is, above all, necessary to till the ground frequently in the first 
years of a new plantation. By keeping the soil loose, it is more easily 
enriched by the dews and depositions of the air. The ground should 
be disturbed thoroughly and the roots next the surface cut and torn 
up ; it gives an added vigor to those which remain, and makes them 
spread to a greater distance. After which, when the plantation has 
become a Vineyard to all intents and purposes, it is just as well to give 
one deep winter ploughing, and two or three dressings with the spade 
in the course of the summer, to lay down the weeds which are rife. The 
first dressing is usually practised just before the flewering ; the second 
when the berry is half filled ; and the third when it has reached its full 
growth and begins to ripen. Some vine-dressers suppress the last til- 
lage, and delay the second, which is wrong. 

But it must be understood, that in insisting on the necessity of 
deep tillage, it is only for loams and clayey soils ; in dry and stony 
ground the dressing should be light and superficial ; deep digging 
would favor too much the evaporation of the moisture. In cold 
ground, with a moist bottom, frequent tillage is higlily efficacious ; in 
light rich soils, it gives the reflection of the heat too great a play, and 
renders the vegetation puny. 

Some authors have asserted that tillage disturbs the Vine without 
profit, and is a useless labour ; Vines planted in gardens, say they, 
are neither ploughed nor hoed, and yet succeed well, and bear well ; 
in Spain, on the rocks of Condrieux and through all the Lyonnois 
they neither plough nor dig, and yet the Vineyards are beautiful and 
the grapes splendid. I shall first remark in answer, that garden soil 
is very loose and often moved, consequently tillage is not required by 
Vines in gardens. The false reasoning in this case, originates m an 
erroneous idea. But as for Spain, they there till twice in winter and 
twice in the spring ; they practise beside, in May, a slight hoeing to 
level the soil, and make a hollow around the stock. They employ for 
the ploughing a single horse, fastened to the plough of the ancients ; 
some times the same yoke draws two ploughs, each one held by a la- 
bourer. At Condrieux and in the Lyonnese district, the Vineyards 
receive three dressings; one after the pruning or topping, another 
after the flowering, and the third just before the grape begins to turn. 
So it is, that writers desirous of building up a system will distort 
facts, or quote without being certain of them ; and deceive for thp 
sole satisfaction of deceivina'. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OF THE MANURLYG OF THE VLYE. 

Numerous and striking examples exist to prove the ill results at- 
tending the imprudent manuring of Vine^'ards ; there are vine-grow- 
ers, however, who think it useful to apply it in considerable quanti- 
ties. But a quantity not only injures the quality of the fruit, but dimin- 
ishes the quantity, and the wine is apt to become ropy. It is destruc- 
tive even to the stock itself in many cases ; the leaves the first year 
grow yellowish, the second year they become quite yellow, and the 
third season new Vines must be set out. This has been remarked in 
many parts of France ; we have witnessed the same in Italy and Ger- 
many, and I learn by my correspondence that it is no uncommon oc- 
currence in Hungary. There is a mean term between too much ma- 
nure and a total disuse of it; and it is the quality of the article, and 
the discreet application of it which will make the great difference. Sta- 
ble-yard litter is the least advantageous ; it renders the ground moist 
and gives the wine an earthy flavour. If spread fresh, as has been 
recommended by some, its inconveniences are still greater ; the parts 
not being sufficiently rotted and incorporated, shelter multitudes of in- 
sects and give birth to millions of weeds. When well worked and tho- 
roughly mellowed, it helps the ground and imparts an ill flavour only 
the first year ; but it is altogether and remarkably advantageous 
when it is used in a compost, combined with mould, lime, ashes and 
dead leaves. The litter of horses, asses, mules, sheep and hogs, suit 
hard, stiff soils ; that of horned cattle, geese and ducks, should be ap- 
plied to light soils, to wliich it gives coherence and body ; but the 
litter of sheep and goats is preferable for the latter purpose. The 
dung of fowls, hair, feathers, shavings of horn, all which decompose slow- 
ly during a moist, hot spell, are useful. Pigeon dung is the most ac- 
tive and fertilizing manure, but it contains a great proportion of alkali, 
and should bo spread with the greatest parsimony. It will agree with 
almost any sort of soil, according to Oliver de Serres, and gives no ill 
taste to the grape. The cleansings of ditches, ponds, and running 
streams, as well as the filth of roads, yards and streets, will make a 
good manure ; but must be used with great moderation. Owing to the 



49 



excessive use of tiie street-dirt of Paris, tlie vine-growers of Sureiie 
have destroyed the reputation of their wine, which was formerly in high 
esteem. 

But the enterprising vine-dresser will find admirable manures in 
the vegetable kmgdom, by ploughing under plants in flower, to ferment 
and decompose in the soil ; and beside the economy of this method, it 
does not injure the wine. On the splendid hills of Damazan, ( Lot 
and Garonne ) where the Vines form broad luxuriant screens, and 
produce a coloured wine that has an agreeable perfume and much de- 
licacy, they have a custom of sowing the lupin. This plant is in flower 
during the time of tilling ; they turn it under, and it forms, wthout 
the expense of transportation, a manure that is evidently strong and 
profitable, from the abundance of their grapes and the fertility of 
the soil, the greater portion of which is sandy. Buckwheat also is 
recommended, sown just after the Vintage, and ploughed in by the 
first whiter tillage. Brambles, briars, heaths also ameliorate the soil ; 
but the most likely application is the clippings of the Vine, buried 
around the stock as soon as cut ; many vme-dressers consider this 
the best. Others prefer the use of the green Vine leaves. They easily 
decompose, and cannot alter the flavour of the wane. Lucerne and 
clover also restore to the earth more principles of fertility than they 
have abstracted from it. In the environs of Toulouse, in Vine-yards 
which are situated on heights, and where the soil is stiff", clayey and sub- 
ject to be carried off" by the rains, they sow sanfoin every ten years. 
While it is growing the only care they take of the Vines is to prune 
them, and they yield scarcely any thing ; but v/hen the sanfoin has 
stood two or three years, they plough it under in the third or fourth 
season ; the soil is re-invigorated and the vintage is abundant. 

Wrack and sea-weed are used in some Vme-yards near the sea shore ;. 
but they have to be mixed with other manures, and employed in mo- 
deration. The grape takes a taste like the rankness of the sea- weed ; 
"the wine also receives a large addition of soda from tliis manure, 
and is never fit for any thing but the making of brandy. But of all 
the manures, a compost of diff"erent earths is the most acceptable to 
the Vine; earth, for instance, raised from meadows, woods, &c. and 
of quaUties diff"erent from the soil of the plantation; that is, if hght 
and open , a close compact loam should be added ; if on the contrary^ 
heavy and hard, light dry kinds of earths should be used. This mixture 
produces the happiest effects. 

~ There are several ways of applymg new earths on the Vine-yard ; 
a scuttle-shaped basket is very convenient where the Vines are on a 
slope ; the wheel-barrow and dung-cart are more economical ; but 
7 



tor the wiieei-barrowjiiie ground to be removed should not be tar any 
tant from the Vineyard. 

The dung-cart requires the assistance of two oxen and two labourers, 
and may injure the runners and shoots ; therefore it should not enter 
the Vineyard ; but the earth should be discharged outside, and the 
barrow will serve to transport it to the Vines. The time at wliich this 
is done, is generally from the latter part of April to the beginning of 
June ; it is better to do it in the fall or begiiming of winter. In 
cold countries it should be delayed until pruning. 

According to the observations of Rozier, the Vine needs no manur- 
ing so long as the stock retains a deep brown hue ; but when it takes 
a lighter shade verging upon the yellow, it is an infalhble sign of weak- 
ness ; then it will require the earth to be renewed every five or six years. 
The duration of the fertiUzing properties of the new soil, depend 
on certain points in its quality ; if it is earth that has been washed 
away by rains from the Vineyards, its effects will not last long. If 
the new layer is fresh soil, and a thick coat of it be spread, the Vine-- 
yard will require no other for ten, twelve, or fifteen years; and so in 
like proportion, if the layer be slender, the needs of the Vine \vill again 
return in a few years. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



OF THE IJ^FLUEJVCE OF THE WEATHER OA' THE VmE 
AJVD ITS PRODUCTS. 

After having pointed out the effects on the Vine and its products 
of the soil, the mode of culture, the tillage and manuring, it may be 
most proper to state, what is the influence exerted by the state of the 
atmosphere. A cold and rainy year, whether in southern or north- 
ern latitudes is hurtful in every point ; the Vine is fond of a regular 
heat, and it requires a hot sun to ripen the grape. When the atmos- 
phere is cold and damp, the Vine languishes, and the fruit is neither 
sugary, nor fragrant ; the wine is insipid, and sours easily, or soon 
turns ropy. Winter rains, especially in places where the ground is 
marly and liable to become miry, prevent the ploughing, pruning, and 
other operations which the Vine requires. In the spring, at the bud- 
ding season, great rains will cause a premature unfolding of the buds 
and leaves, and lessen the production of fruit. When the bunch is 
in flower, they blight the pollen of the blossom, especially if they are 
cold and heavy ; when the berry is half-grown, they prevent its in- 
crease ; when it is a little further advanced, they deprive it of the su- 
gary savour peculiar to it, or make it ripen late ; or if they take place 
at the vintage season they rot the grape, making it furnish, on fer- 
mentation, only a tartish-tasted, watery beverage. 

High winds are always prejudicial ; they dry and harden the ground ; 
they blast the young shoots; they prevent the fecundation of the 
flower, and deprive the berry of its inherent moisture. 

Spring frosts and hail are two severe scourges of the Vine ; in one 
moment they diminish or destroy utterly, the hopes of a whole year 
of labours. 

Fogs are equally hurtful to the stock, the flower, and the fruit. Be- 
sides their rendering them more apt to suffer from frosts, the clammy 
moisture they deposit over every part of the plant, v/ets it more 
completely than the earth, and exposes it, the sun drying in a mo- 
ment this superficial humidity, to a heat the more injurious, because 
so sudden. 



Too much heat also has an evil effect , great heat, it is true 
is necessary to ripen, refine and perfume the grape, but if excessive, 
and continued, and at a time when the earth is dry, it burns and does 
not vivify. Its results are similar to those of fall frosts and tempes 
tuous winds. They are worse felt in the North than in the South, be- 
cause, in the latter the roots of the plant are much stronger and larger. 

The most favourable season is when the flower opens during a 
dry, warm, tranquil spell ; when light rains occur frequently to 
nourish the growing berry; when a regular heat without interval 
of foggy, muggy weather developes the bunch, and ripens the fruit; 
and when fair weather presides at the joyous period of the vintage 



CHAPTER IX. 



ON THE MEANS OF RENEWING VINES AND VINEYARDS. 

The proper methods for renewing the Vine are layering ; intrench- 
ing ; stripping the old bark, and pruning. Of the latter we shall treat 
in a chapter by itself. 

Of Layering. 

Layering creates new stocks ; but if too often repeated on the same 
roots it eventually renders them sterile and useless. The process 
of layering need scarcely be described it is so universally known. 
But its application to the Vine consists in putting down and burying 
an old- wood stem in a pit about a foot large, allowing only five or six 
of the branches, (if weak, and if strong, but two) to remain above 
ground. This is not only a mode of restoring Vines, but the way 
usually practised for perpetuating good roots of the grape, such for 
example as bear long bunches, with a double row of close-set ber- 
ries, flattened by their pressure against each other. The time for 
the operation varies according to the climate. In warm countries 
the fall is best ; if done later it does not succeed well, the months 
of April and May being, in such climates, altogether wanting in 
those mild rains that so happily foster the young layer. In cold coun- 
tries it must be deferred until the 15th of February. There, by layer- 
ing in fall, the heavy winter rains, and surface water and moisture, 
chill and weaken the sucker ; but even there by delaying the opera- 
tion tiU spring, it disturbs the main direction and impulse of the 
sap, and drives it into all the buds, when the grand object is to keep 
it for a few. But in mid-February, there is no diversion made to 
the flow of the sap, the channels of which are unoccupied. 

The sucker, when removed from the old stem, is to be pruned with 
a cut slanting backward and downward from above the eye that is 
kept, and ending opposite to it. When set out it should show only 
three or four joints, and be provided with a prop to prevent it from 
giving straggling, slender shoots, which would suffer from the plough 
in the first tillage. Great care must be taken not to let the earth fill 
up the trench in which the layers are set out, or the best roots will 



54 



spread there and by being so close to tiie surface expose the plan? 
to all the casualties of tlie weather, and all the various operations 
of tilling and training, that must be carried on about the Vine. 
But neither layering nor the setting out of layers should ever be in- 
trusted to the hired vine-dresger or labourer. The injuries that may 
be done by careless digging and hasty work to the young stocks 
can scarcely be calculated. "VMien done with the attention and care 
due to the operation, it has these advantages besides those already 
enumerated The sucker yields plentifully and affords a strong wine ; 
it allows the bunch to be kept near the ground, in places where the 
low culture is strictly indispensable : and the stocks from layers will 
jost considerably : there are even instances of immense duration, as 
in the vineyards of L Tonne, Cote d Or, and Saone and Loire, which 
are two hundred years old, and the wines of which, as also of the 
vine-grounds of La Chainette and Migrennp near Auxerre, are gene- 
rous, delicate, and strong ; and those too of Mares-d'Or, (district of 
Dijon) which are racy, nourishing and of a high relish. 

In some districts they only layer in young plantations, in others 
they do it from time to time to renew old stocks ; and in others they 
annually layer a quarter, or sixth, or eighth, or even less, of the 
whole of their Vmes. The first method is improper when it is done 
to multiply the original number of stocks, because by the frequent 
repetition it wears out the virtues of the variety, and renders it in- 
ferior. But when practised to fill up the space of occasional dead 
stocks it is perfectly recommendable For the second case it must 
be said, that it is needless to wait till a Vine is dead to renew it ; 
the proper time is when its pristine vigor declines : and when it5 pro- 
duce diminishes in quantity, or what is of more consequence, in 
quality. The third method cannot meet the approbation of any man 
of science, because its purport and tendency is to perpetuate the 
culture of the Vine in the spot it actually occupies for any period of 
years, and the Vine, like all other plants, will in time exhaust the 
earth of those principles which alone nourish it. 

Atter a certain lapse of time it should cede the soil to some other 
growth, that by the alternation of other vegetation, the mould mar 
become lively and fertile, in place of being impoverished and dead. 

Of L'TTRE.VCHiyG. 

"SMien a Vine either by age or the poverty of the soil begins to 
fail, the \ine-dresser may postpone its ultimate fate by this operation, 
which will reanimate it, and it will yield in consequence for five, 



DO 



ten, or fifteen years longer. Intrenching is practised from the niontk 
of December until March, or until the buds begin to swell. This 
operation must never be attempted on any part of the plant save 
the stock itself ; if done upon a branch, that branch attracts to itself 
the nourishment of the whole plant, and the rest of the Vine bears 
feebly, and its leaves soon fall ; those also who do attempt this, gene- 
rally make such a shallow trench that the new roots are continually 
cut up by the plough, the hoe, and the mattock. It is still worse 
if any thing can be, to select the side-branches instead of the main, 
or upward branch. The former give to the hand more easily, but 
the latter requires less nourishment, and does not drain the sap as 
rapidly and entirely. 

The best case for intrenching is when a young stock becomes di- 
seased. I have known several Vmes attacked by the Yellows, which 
were intrenched in consequence, and have prospered amazingly ; be- 
cause new roots were distributed horizontally and near the surface, 
instead of penetrating downward to the cold, stiff, moist layer of 
earth, which had been fatal to the first roots. 

A whole vineyard may be renewed, by intrenching the old stocks in 
entire. By this the stock, existing for itself, fills itself with nourish- 
ing fluids, and performs the offices of an immense root, giving birth 
to three, four, or five new stocks, all vigorous and long-lived. The 
pit that is opened for this purpose must be dug so as to allow of 
carefully grubbing out the earth from under the old stock ; the roots 
are then cut loose, and the trench deepened so as to lay down hori- 
zontally the old trtmk, and the branches are disposed of in the corners 
of the trench. The earth is then lightly thrown in over the whole, 
and a little stable manure scattered over the top of it. After the 
third season the new stocks are separated from the old trunk. 

Of Barking, 

Several vine-growers of Ville Franche (Saone and Loire) and otiiers 
of the Lyonnois, have adopted of late years the plan of scraping and 
tearing off all the old bark from their Vines, It revives the plant 
greatly, and also destroys an immense number of insects which shel- 
ter in the long rents of the bark. It increases the quantity of the 
grapes without injuring their quality, and heightens the natural fla- 
vour. Barking is a preventative and also a cure for many diseases 
or injuries that are severe upon the vineyard, and is as safe as effi- 
cacious, 



CHAPTER X. 



ON PRUNING. 

The Vine if left to itself shoots up too high, it bears for two or 
three years, but after that degenerates, languishes and yields only 
slender clusters. This is the origua of the necessity of pruning, 
wliich confines the powers of the sap to a few branches, thereby in- 
creasin<T the produce and rendering the grape more^ honied and ma- 
ture. Pruning is therefore essential ; he who undertakes it must be 
both inteUigent and wary ; and habituated by theory and practice to 
the knowledge of its eflfects, so as to be able to accoimt as he goes 
for every application of the knife; for it influences not only the 
coming crop, but also the health of the Vine, and consequently its 
future duration and profit. 

As the Vine only yields fruit on the new wood, it follows of course, 
that the pruning must be so cast as to keep up the lowermost and 
most vigorous shoots, and must be adapted to the age, strength, and 
character of the plant, to the nature of the soil and the mode of 
training. 

The first pruning is easiest, it is performed by clipping in entire 
the shoot that originated from the uppermost of the two eyes left above 
ground on the slip, and by clipping the other shoot close above the 
eye that is left. 

At the second priming, if the plant is to be dwarfed, the lower- 
most branch only is to be left ; if a low-trained Vine, two branches 
with buds are left ; if a middling Vine, three branches are left, and 
pruned, and all' the rest are cut off as close as possible to the main 
stem ; but in all cases ahke, on the branch or branches that are spar- 
ed, only one eye apiece and that the nearest to the trunk, is left 
beliind ; the rest of the wood is lopped away. In the third pruning 
one more eye is allowed to each of the above-mentioned main or first 
shoots which are to be the main branches. Of these, three, or perhaps 
four, is enough for the middhng Vine, or even a tall-stock one ; two 
are enough for a low-stock Vine j and as in dwarf Vines the fi-uit- 
bearing wood is to spring directly from the trunk, they must be kept 
low, but not so much so that the grapes should lie on the ground. 



57 



It is of frequent occurrence in the third season, for a vigorous 
shoot or scion to spring from the foot of the Vine— It will injur© the 
plant unless the head of it be clipped. 

In the fourth year the Vine begins to yield fruit ; the two or three 
most Hkely and able branches must be cut down to two eyes apiece, 
and this is all the wood left standing. 

In the fifth pruning, not more than five runners are to be left stand- 
ing ; the lowermost shoot must have but one eye ; and the other 
strong branches are to be pruned to two eyes apiece. 

When the Vine has reached the sixth year it is shaped as far as 
pruning goes ; from that time it must be regulated according to cli- 
mate, the training of the stocks, their number, the space between 
them, and the quality of the soil. The pruning then is classed into 
short and long. 

The number of runners that are to be left, varies ; however, all 
must undergo the operation of pruning, save Vines that lie fallow. 

The tall-stock Vine can be allowed four runners with nine eyes 
to each ; but to prevent the sap from rising too fast and running to 
leaves, the branch must be twisted at its origin ; this increases the 
fertility of the plant, and improves the grape. 

In a middling Vine, where a head, or pollard, of three or four main- 
branches is allowed, five or six runners may exist on each of these 
branches, and each runner may be permitted to retain from five to 
&ix eyes. 

A low Vine with only two main-branches, should have no more 
than that number of runners on each, so as to cause an equal and 
regular flow of sap, and prevent it from flowing to one side more than 
the oth^r. If the Vine prospers, yet does not bear for two or three 
years, the pruning must leave the wood long ; and on which ever side 
it seems least fertile there should be a little manure applied, which 
is better than to cut some of the roots on the more luxuriant side, 
as some recommend. 

For a dwarf Vine, three or four runners, with one or two eyes 
apiece, are enough to be left by the pruning knife. If the Vine is 
old, it should be pruned down very low and topped often. If any 
shoots should spring from the foot of the stock they are from an 
old Vine acceptable and welcome, and are to be scrupulously taken 
care of, as they may serve to renew the stock. 

When the plants have been much bruised and broken by hail, the 
old and new wood both, must be cut close to the main stem. If a late 
frost has caught the new shoots or destroyed them, those which are 
any way hopeful must be topped; and the year after, that wood 
8 



alone is kept and dressed by tlie knife which has sprouted sub-eyes. 
There is no need for hurry in clearing off the frozen wood, nor even 
the buds partially caught; for it is no rare thing for the latter 
sprouts to bear. If the Vine bleeds, length must be amply allowed 
to all the wood and but little be removed, all which the year after 
can be properly reduced. When the mould is deep, a plenty of run- 
ners, or main-branches may be allowed, but not so if the soil be thin 
and poor ; in any case it exhausts the stock if there are more than 
four runners with three buds on each. In a poor soil, two branches 
to the stump, with three buds or eyes on each, are enough. In a 
wet loam, pruning must be cautiously given, if at all. In dry years 
the Vine makes very little wood ; then tJie pruning may be thorough : 
the Vine should be thinned out greatly and pruned short especially 
if there has been a severe winter. 

Some varieties require to be left long, others to be dressed very 
close ; but with all kinds alike, the operation should be performed 
with sharp instruments, and that wood which is old and dry and will 
delay the circulation of the sap, be cleaned out and cut very close to 
the healthy stems. 

The vine-dresser when he prunes, ought always to have at his 
side a sharp mattock to clear away the earth from the root of the 
Vine so as to cut off as deeply as possible, all the suckers ; when 
this is done without opening the ground, they sprout up again more 
numerous than ever, and by abstracting sap from the fruit-buds 
injure them considerably. Each one has a particular motive in his 
manner of pruning ; one does it for the present crop ; another to 
make his Vine look handsome ; a third for the crop two years ahead ; 
a fourth who keeps the mam chance in view, takes care of the large, 
vigorous stems, and heeds little whether the Vine is too high or ill 
formed, only considering the crop; as the proverb say«, rather a 
stock well filled than one well trained. The principal point is, to 
know and seize the right time for pruning. To do it too soon ad- 
vances vegetation and exposes the young buds to the nipping of the 
cold, or even spring frosts ; if too late , it retards the development 
of the buds, and perhaps destroys the fruit-buds by their becoming 
drenched with the bleeding sap during the night ; or perhaps a late 
frost happens, and finds the retarded sprouts so backward and ten- 
der that it will entirely destroy them. 

In warm countries, some pruning should be performed after the 
fall of the leaf; it gives the grape a greater chance for ripening and 
becoming sugary ; but to prune in fall or begiiming of the winter, 
in cold countries, is imprudent : it is proper to wait until the black 



m 

Irost is over. The first fortnight in March is the best time for the 
vineyard in the centre and North of France, and it should oply be 
done when the weather is fair, dry, and without appearance of rain. 

After the sap begins to circulate, it is improper to prune the Vines, 
unless such as are sprouting too luxuriantly, and which require to be 
weakened, those in a proper condition it weakens too much ; they 
seem exhausted and yield only poor fruit. 

In pruning it is important to do the topping neatly ; it should be 
done with a sharp kniie, and the cut be made cleanly, and slanting 
backwards and downwards from about an inch and an half above the 
last eye that is left. The rain does not penetrate such a wound, 
nor the frost, if there is any in the months of April and May, reach 
the neck of the joint through it. In several districts they have a 
way of cutting the branch in pruning straight off ; but it is a worth- 
less fashion ; it exposes the bud to all the stress of the weather, and 
if the bud be crushed or split, the loss of the fruit follows of course. 
It is a mode productive of great disappointment and loss. 

When one single eye alone is left, there is always some risk that 
that eye may meet with an accident, in which case the stock or 
stem will be likely to perish, especially if it be weak or unthriving^. 
To avoid this inconvenience, prudent vine-dressers always preserve 
two eyes, at liberty to make afterwards a more rigorous lopping. 

In pruning for the wine crop solely, many more branches are left 
than in simple pruning for the preservation of the Vine ; but it soon 
exhausts the plant and hastens the necessity of replanting. This 
is the mode pursued by vine-dressers who work vineyards on shares, 
and planters who follow the old adage, the Vine should sink under 
its crop. But they generally neglect to bend in time the long runners, 
stems and sprouts ; they leave them very long with the intention of 
having much fruit ; but the sap ascending with too much ease, de- 
velopes the uppermost or woody buds, that is, the buds above those 
which turn out to be fruit bearers, and if the season is hot and moist, 
or the plant is very vigorous, the fruit-buds will dwindle and be 
lost entirely. As a general rule for the application of pruning, it 
should (according to the different kinds and varieties or situation of 
the plants, independent of other differences) be made so as to leave 
the wood long, and but a few branches, for kinds that have a dry, 
solid v/ood ; of such as have a very pithy wood, the main -branches 
maybe many in number, but their stems should be left very short. 
The newness of the soil in the culture makes a modification of the 
necessity for pruning ; there are situations, such for instance as the 
island of Santori in the Archipelago where they never prune until 
the tenth year 



For the last twenty years in the department of Marne they have 
made use of a very simple and expeditious means for pruning, by 
which a child of ten years may do without fatigue the work of an able 
dresser. It consists of a crooked knife that does not close, and which 
has a wooden handle about four inches long and an inch thick ; the 
thumb of the hand that holds the knife is provided with a hard white - 
wood thimble or thumb-case, large enough to fit well. With the left 
hand the workman puts the twig to be cut between the edge of the 
knife and the thumb-case, and clips it with perfect ease, without so 
much as moving the arm or the wrist. The twig is cut three inches 
above an eye ; and this sort of cutting is found on trial to be as useful 
as simple. This process singularly diminishes the fatigue, and sim- 
phfies and hastens the operation of pruning, which has often to be 
done with promptness. The child can neither wound himself nor his 
neighbours, and cuts the stem boldly, rapidly, and neatly. There is 
also a newly invented pair of shears for pruning, controlled by a spring 
with which even the most ignorant hands can do the pruning expedi- 
tiously and regular. They are known by the name of the Vine Shears, 
{ciseauzpour la vigne) of Edme. Regnier. 



CHAPTER XL 



OF CLIPPING, OR BUDDING. 

Clipping is an operation intended to divest the plant of superfluous 
branches, and strengthen those which are bearing fruit. It is a 
means of making the Vines flourish and yield grapes that are long, 
full, well gilt, having much mucilaginous pulp, and fit to produce 
superior wine. 

It has an influence on the duration of the stock, and the crops of 
successive years. The execution of it is almost always abandoned to 
women or even children, which would not be the case if it were only 
generally understood that it requires as great a combination of ideas 
as pruning ; in that case it would be reserved for sensible and instruct- 
ed vine-dressers. 

A stock well clipped, with the superfluous sprigs shorn clean to the 
stem, is easier to prune next year. But a female day-labourer or child 
can scarcely be competent to judge what shoots to suppress or which to 
leave, especially if the Vine has but few branches. Suppose there 
are two or three weak stems, each with a bunch, and two vigo- 
rous shoots, springing from the foot, but. without fruit, as often hap- 
pens in years when there have been hard spring frosts, — they will 
suppress those two fine shoots without perceiving that they deprive 
the vine-dresser of one resource for the layering of the following 
year. When there is a superflux of grapes, they are not apt to cut 
off the foot-scions, because those too have grapes upon them j and 
being left, they materially weaken the powers of the fruit-bearing 
stems. If they find on the newly pruned wood, shoots too large to be 
easily taken off by the hand, they generally twist them off rudely, 
and make a large gash in the new wood, instead of cutting them off 
with a sharp knife quite close to the knob of the eye. If the spring 
Uas been unfavorable, and there are a great many branches without 
grapes, they will not be likely to leave on the newly pruned wood 
three, four, or perhaps five of the strongest shoots, according to the 



streiigtii 01 the stem, ao that the sap may be drawn m that chrectiou; 
and the next year's harvest not suffer entirely in consequence of 
the want of good wood. 

As may be seen from the above suppositions, the regulation of this 
process is of serious importance ; it depends on the localities, on the 
degree of richness in the soil, of the present and previous state of 
the atmosphere ; so also, the period at which it must be done. 

As a general rule — the vine-dresser, before he begins to clip, and 
crush away useless buds, must wait until the fruit is formed ; it must 
be done in fine weather, when the sun has well dried the ground and 
rendered it firm, so that the trampling and beating down of the feet 
around the plants need not have as serious effects as if the earth were 
moist or miry. To wait until the Vine is in blossom exposes it to 
blighting. By leaving too many shoots for wood, that is sterile shoots, 
the fruit-bearing branches are deprived of the necessary ahment ; and by 
leaving too many fruit-bearers, the stock is exhausted, and several 
bad seasons are the consequence. 

No clipping should be performed without the aid of the pruning- 
knife ; by breaking off large shoots, already grown woody, large 
wounds and rents are apt to made in the main-stems, which are hard 
to be healed, and lead sooner or later to untimely decay. 



CHAPTER XIL 



OF PROPPING OR SUPPORTING. 



The use of props is not general ; in some vine-yards they only tie 
together the stems at top, without giving them any other support 
than they lend to each other ; this practice was in use among the 
Grecians. But in the greater number of vineyards, especially those 
in the northern departments, propping is looked upon as one of the 
most profitable modes of cultivating the Vine. A long pole or prop 
or post is put down beside each stock and the large shoots are tied to 
it with straw, or rushes, or osiers. There is a diversity of opinion on 
this subject among our most celebrated vine-growers. Those who are 
in favor of it, say that a propped Vine yields wine of a superior quali- 
ty ; that it resists the force of the winds ; that there is a long period 
during which it can receive tillage ; that it is not subject to being 
choked up by the weeds ; that the fruit is clean and free from being 
spattered with dirt by the rains ; that it is less liable to rot ; and is 
more exposed to the genial influence of the sun. 

According to the others, propping is more injurious than bene- 
ficial ; that, firstly, wood being scarce and high, it unprofitably swells 
the list of troubles and expenses attendant on the cultivation; se- 
condly, that the grapes are held too far from the ground for a fully suffi- 
cient ripeness ; thirdly, that great and long continued heats render 
the ascending movement of the sap dilatory, and the elevated stock is 
therefore not as productive ; fourthly, that the bunches pressed against 
each other, shade each other too much, and deprive each other of the 
sun and air ; fifthly, that the post or prop, presses, wounds, breaks 
or tears the roots, and opens a passage for the rains, which conse- 
quently makes them mould, and necessarily brings on the rot. 

I shall not discuss or contradict the one or the other. There is both 
truth and exaggeration on both sides. Custom is law ; whether the 
prop be planted at the foot of each stock, or whether in the centre of 
four, trained over it in hive or dome-fashion, the difference is all one 



to me, I shall only examine the manner in which the posts should 
be made. 

The most proper wood is, without denial, heart of oak ; the next 
best, chesnut and mulberry ; even elm, ash or maple may be used; 
but willow or poplar should be avoided, and also alder, the porous, 
sappy wood of which scarcely lasts a year. Coppice-wood or sap- 
ling props are very poor, although the wood be seven or nine years 
old. Good props should be of logs of fifteen or twenty year old wood, 
five feet long, six inches thick, and split in four ; the corners well 
smoothed by the hatchet, the sharp end charred, and the bark strip- 
ped entirely. The time for putting down the props is just before the 
first spring tillage and before the shooting of the buds. They must 
be put down deep enough to stand *he winds and drought, but with 
care, so as not to injure the roots. 



CHAPTER Xin. 



OF TYING OR BLYDmO. 



There are, properly speaking, two sorts of tying or binding j the 
first for espalier Vines is binding, and consists in nailing up the 
branches and shoots against the wall with loops of osier. The second, 
for propped Vines, is tying ; it is to fasten the youifg shoots against 
the prop or palisade of posts. 

The tie is put round the third or fourth joint above the last bunch 
of the uppermost shoot. If there is considerable new wood of differ- 
ent sizes on the stock, and these shoots would be forced too xnucli 
from their natural position by tying all together, the tying should be 
performed in two or three places ; otherwise the grapes will be liable 
to rot. A twist of rushes, bass or rope of straw is used for this purpose'. 
In clipping, there are often some shoots or sprigs negjected fo be 
removed ; they should be cleared out at the time of tying, as also 
those that have grown out since the time of clipping. 

The most favorable time for tying is immediately after the flower- 
ing. Then the new wood is all nearly quite evolved, and is tender 
and requires to be fastened, to allow no purchase to th« wind, which 
stunts the shoots, or what is worse, breaks them short off at their origin. 

In the larger part of Southern France, tying is thought useless ; in 
all the northern part part its excellent effects are highly prized. We 
owe to it the superior wines of the Marne, and much also is due to it 
for the support it gives to the slender, thin stems of the Pineau or 
pine-cone grape, the staple of the renowned vineyards of Cote-d'Or 
of L'Yonne, and of Saone and Loire. Doubtless, tying is expensive, 
but its advantages compensate the time and money that it requires. 
In the South, they may get through without it, but in our northern 
departments it is indispensable. 



17 



CHAPTER XIV. 



OF TOPPING, 



This is an operation which is performed on the shaots and lateral 
wood, after they have been fastened to the prop and are from two 
and a half to three feet long. The young shoot is brittle, and so is 
generally broken at the joint, or else cut with the pruning knife ; 
it should be cut about an inch above the knot and care should be 
taken to keep the leaf just below it. It is always done at the same 
time as the training, and is left to the skill of the women, though 
wrongly so : — because the operation is sometimes useless and even 
to a certain point injurious ; at other times it is necessary, to give 
play to the sap and accelerate its influx in the direction of the fruit 
It takes but little time or trouble to do it well. On Vines trained 
along low trellises, all the strong shoots should be topped at the 
ninth or tenth joint ; perhaps a little higher or lower according to 
their situation. The shoots that gad above the props are topped, 
to allow them no higher than their props ; and all feeble new wood 
is topped at the seventh or eighth joint. If it has not reached that 
number of joints it must be let alone until the second topping, in the 
first week of the month of August. 

The second operation requires more care than the first ; it consists 
in cutting at the second joint all the sub-shoots that have sprouted 
out on the already topped new wood ; it is done to force the sap to 
retrograde and aid more efiiciently in strengthening the stem, ma. 
turing the fruit, and predisposing the lower part of the yearling 
wood to form fruit-buds. It is sometimes delayed till the vintage 
is near at hand, especially if the weather is very hot and dry. 

There are some stocks that will require to be topped three times 
in the season ; the third topping is done when the grapes begin to 
turn, never before. 

The toppings are given to horses, cows, and sheep, who eat them 
very greedily ; but as they are very heating, it is best to spread and 
dry them and then stack them for winter fodder. This fodder has & 
sweet and high relish to cattle. 



CHAPTER XV. 



OF GIRDLING. 

Girdling is a means of forcing the ripening of the grape, and in 
creasing its size and qualities. By the oldest records we have, it 
appears that it is a process that has been long and well known, and 
was used to prevent the blighting of the Vine. All writers on agri- 
culture, from Theophrastes and Pliny, down to Julius Hygin, speak 
of it in the most unequivocal terms, as a practice in use among all 
the gardeners and vine-dressers of their time. 

It was accomplished by twisting, wrenching or half-breaking 
the branches ; by driving large pegs into the trunk ; or finally, as I 
have seen done by many farmers in Italy, by taking off from the 
stems circular bands of bark, of indifferent breadths, shortly before 
the opening of the flower. Notwithstanding its utility, the method 
had been lost or dropped during the middle ages, or only used in some 
circumscribed localities. 

In the beginning of the XVIIth century Olivier ds Sevres revived 
it in Frances since his time Magnol recommended it as a means of 
increasing the quantity and quality of the olive crop. Buffon and his 
worthy disciple, Duhamel Duynonceau, tried it on other fruit-trees, 
Rozievj on his side, tried many experiments with it which are record- 
ed in the Agricultural Transactions ; while my late friend, the cele- 
brated Andre Thouin, of the Institute, has demonstated its surprising 
results; not only on all the trees comprised under the head of stone 
or seed-fruit, nut or berry-bearing trees, but on woody plants of very 
distant families. For a practical proof of its application to the Vine, 
I may cite M. Lamhry, who owns a large nursery at iviandres, near 
Brie-Comte-Robert, (Seine and Oise,) and who has girdled his Vines 
regularly for the last forty years, and constantly recovered large and 
excellent crops. Such is the abridged history of girdling, against 
which, from time to time, some idle ignoramus raises here and there, 
a solitary voice. 

Girdling should be resorted to when a cold or damp spell retards 



6S 



the evolution of the fruit, and six or eight days before the blossom 
opens, rarely longer and sometimes less. It may also be done at 
any time from the commencement of the ascent of the sap, and so long 
as the blossom lasts, but it is better that it should be rather near to 
the time of flowering than distant from it. If done late it is of no 
service to prevent blighting, though still it preserves its other proper- 
ties, those of hastening the ripening, and of securing an abundance 
of fruit, and of a finer quality than can be had otherwise. It may be 
done as well on the old as new wood ; that is, on the stock, the main- 
branches, the old laterals, and the shoots of the year. However, 
last year's wood should be preferred ; the wood of the year bears the 
fruit, and is too tender at the season for girdling to allow the operation 
to succeed well. 

'Xh& way it is done is to remove a ring of the bark or cortex, clean 
to the true wood ; not a particle or fibre of the pelhcle, (the liber,) 
between the wood and the bark should be left. The size of the ring 
should vary from the l-14th of an inch, to an inch in breadth, 
according to the subject, the soil, the season, the exigence of the case 
and the intention proposed by the operation. This ring insensibly 
spreads ; the foliage takes a maturer look ; the leaves become of a 
swarthy red if the wood is affected. Some days after, a fortnight at 
furthest, the cambium, (the viscous sap between the wood and the 
liber,) exudes from under the bark, like a gum, gradually hardening, 
and extending over the wood without adhering to it, and forming a 
slightly salient, barky collar, or pad, around the stem. This pad at 
first runs rapidly, then more slowly, until it reaches the lower edge of 
the ring, to which it unites itself, resembling the bark .as much as 
possible, and in the second year becomes a real cortical formation. 
When the encrustation becomes complete around the wound, then 
the grapes swell, begin to change their colour, and by their forced 
maturity are ready for the wine-vats eight or ten days sooner than 
they w6uld have been without girdling. If the supplemental bark 
does not form, the girdled branch dies the next spring. This is of no 
importance to the Vine, as at that time it would of course have all the 
last year's sprouts, (with the exception of stools from two or tiiree at 
most, to be left for the new wood to spring from,) cut off and cleared 
ajvay. If the girdled branch does not bear enough of fruit the second 
year, the opejation may be repeated. 

In good seasons, girdling should not be resorted to ; it is then quite 
as hurtful as it is of service in rainy seasons. For a general rule, 
also, It must not be done every year, unless on stocks that are very 
sterile, and hard to he^T. or are given to blighting. On stool-vines 



69 



that is, vines that are low and support themselves without propping, 
girdling too often repeated, would be fatal. For low vines, the inci- 
sion should be made on the wood of the preceding year, below every 
fruit-bearing shoot. The wood above the incision profits by it, while 
that which is below, together with the root, suffers : but, as the part 
which has profited at the expense of the rest, becomes a root next 
year, by layering, with the strongest fibres springing from the barky 
ring, because that is the thickest part, there is, finally, nothing lost 
by it, but rather a gain. 

In tall-stock training the girdling is done at the spring of the bend ; 
that is, the fruit-bearing branches that are twisted to stop the elonga- 
tion of the wood, and prevent the descent of the sap, have the incision 
made just below the wrench. In stool-vines, it is the fruit-bearing 
stem itself that is girdled, unless the shoot is too young and slender 
to allow any operation. If every one of the stems were to be girdled, 
the new wood would profit at the expense of the old wood, and as, 
(unless they be layered,) all that new wood will be pruned off 
next spring, the Vine would suffer a great waste of substance 
without any sort of use : and would soon sink under such unna- 
tural handling. It has been said that girdling can only be an 
agreeable occupation for an amateur or market-gardener speculating 
in early fruit ; a physiologist studying the secret springs of nature; 
or an enlightened agriculturist, seeking remedies for an irregular dif- 
fusion of the sap ; all such, finally, as can afford to sacrifice branches 
or even the plants themselves, for the sake of their profit or instruc- 
tion. On account of this character of inutility having been imputed 
to girdling, experiments have been undertaken in several vineyards. I 
shall give them as they have been transmitted to me. 

In the department of Cote d'Or, shoots of the Pine-cone grape (Pi- 
neau) and Gamet, girdled in the spring, yielded bunches more filled 
with berries and those of a larger kind and more sugary flavour, than 
the rest : they also ripened twenty days sooner than those on the 
neighbouring plants that were not girdled ; — but it was remarked, 
especially at Beaune, that the juice gave but slight indications of 
tartaric acid, the presence of which is thought to assist in the preser- 
vation of wines. It was by some, recalled to mind, that girdling had 
been formerly in use in that department, under the title of controlling ^ 
but was given up on account of its weakening the stocks and 
causing the wine that was made from them to be unfit for keeping. 
In the department of L Tonne, several rows were submitted to the 
operation, alternately, every other row being left untouched. The 
consequence was, that none of the girdled Vines bUghted, and the 
fruit on them ripened ten days earlier. 



70 



In the vine-grounds of Epernay, Champagne^ (de la Marne) th€ 
shoots of a number of stocks, subject to blighting every year, no mat- 
ter how favorable the season, were girdled with perfect success. The 
grapes were large and full, while the Vines that had not been experi- 
mented on, bore none at all, or very meagre ones. The planters of 
those vineyards do, nevertheless, think girdling an unsuitable opera- 
tion. " Our high, delicate, neat wines," say they, "are made from 
*• grapes picked out with great care, from among the slenderest and 
" most thinly furnished bunches ; such, of course, as have been 
" affected by the blighting of the Vines. By preventing blighting, 
" therefore, it is very likely that we may injure the quality of our 

wines, which is essentially the basis of their great value, high 
''price and extensive consumption. 

In the departments of Rhone, de I'Ain, and Loire, where girdling 
has been in use since 1790, at which time Lancry, a botanist and far- 
mer of great acquirements made it the vogue, they are well convin- 
ced of its importance, but it is thought that its advantages are at the 
expense of the girdled stems, which are apt to wither and finally 
cause the loss of the branch, if the edges of the wound do not become 
encrusted in time. In the departments of Seine and Marne, la Ven- 
dee, Deux Sevres, Gironde, Basses Pyrennes, and in all those 
situated on the sonthern shores of tlie Rhone, its efficacy in prevent- 
ing blighting has been fully established. All the stocks that it has 
been tried on liave given fine grapes which rapidly attained their 
natural size, and were full ripe long before all others. 

At Meudon (Seine^ and in a few other places, it has been observed 
that the wine from girdled stems is pale and less alcoholic ; on th? 
contrary, in the vineyards of Meurthe it is of a richer colour and every 
way better than that from the branches that have not been subjected 
to the annular incision. 

In the department of Ariege, it was found that girdling on young 
wood makes it liable to break with the first blast of wind, but that 
this inconvenience does not exist wlien it is the old wood that is 
operated on, the shoot of which is solidly attached to a prop. 

The reader should be warned not to draw a rigorous conclusion 
from these various opinions and singular facts ; our theories in vege- 
table physiology are not yet complete enough to account for all the 
curious accidents that now and then occur. Sufficient attention also 
is not given to the inequalities of contexture in the different species 
of the Vine, to the influences of the soil, exposure, climate, manner 
of culture, &c. &c. All these points, which are now either obscurely 
understood, or very difficult to estimate, may cause very different 
results in cases absolutely the same to appearance. 



71 



What I can affirm is, that far from having observed that grapes 
from girdled stems were less rich in colour, less sugary, or more 
watery than others, I have always seen on the Vines of those plant- 
ers who used this operation, that the grapes were larger, more plenti- 
ful, more sugary and more vinous. Moreover, these qualities, indispen- 
sable for a superior wine, must be the result of girdling, the undispu- 
ted and positive advantages of which are, 1st. infallibly to prevent 
blighting, if done skillfully and opportunely ; 2nd. to hasten the matu- 
rity by twelve or fourteen days, thus securing a long and excellent 
period for the ripening before the vintage. 

There are cases when it cannot be done ; two of them I shall no- 
tic© ; when, for instance the branch is to be trained in a spire, or bent 
into an arch ; because the welt of bark formed around the twig ia so 
brittle that the branch is endangered if tightly bent. In spiral-trained 
Vines only lateral shoots should be girdled. The second case is, when 
the planter is convinced that the peculiar excellence of his wine 
depends upon the stocks being suffered to blight ; girdhng must be 
reserved for stocks to which damping -off or blighting is ruinous. 

We have many instruments good for girdling, but there is a choice 
among them. Some make too large a ring, which renders the healing 
«f the cut more difficult ; others are apt to become clogged every 
minute and must be cleaned out with a thin blade, which causes delay. 
The best are those which assist to effect it speedily and without risk. 
The cutting nippers (pince incisive) ©f Bettinger. and the girdler 
(bagueur) of Quentm Durajid are of this kind, (figures are given of 
these instruments in the plate.) They arc calculated to loosen the 
skin and the pellicle, but require a careful workman. If any of 
the pellicle be left, the sap continues to run ; if the cut goes too 
d«ep, there is much danger of the branch being ruined ; therefore, 
these patent iftetniments are highly necessary. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



or GRAFTING. 



A well planted vineyard lasts from fifty to sixty years, often longer, 
and during all that time bears well, if properly attended to. But it is 
not in full bearing until the sixth or even the seventh year. This in- 
convenience, which falls heavy on the planter, is relieved by grafting. 

If through any negligence or ill habit, the Vines begin to languish, 
and make no adequate return for the care of their cultivation, it is m that 
case best to resort to grafting. Indeed if we consider the trouble of 
replanting, of grubbing out old stocks, of the long and arduous atten- 
tion already spent on each stock, any means that will prolong the 
existence of the plants is worth attending to. In certain districts of 
the departments of Bouches-du-Rhone, Gironde, Cote d'Or and 
L'Yonne, grafting is much in use and very generally liked. I have 
understood that it is practised at Vevay in OhiO; where a good wine 
is raised by the emigrant Swiss. 

The principal aim of grafting is to renew the Vine the same season 
that it meets an injury from frost or drought ; or to substitute to a 
poor plant, a slip of a better quality or different species. Grafting, 
also, as is well known, has a remarkable power of ameliorating the 
nature of the fruit. It is a very ancient art ; when applied to the Vine 
it is easily done, and its success certain. The sap of the Vine ascends 
by all the capillary vessels indifferently, without any distinction be- 
tween the liber, cortex or wood ; a particular in which it is very differ- 
ent from such plants as have their conduits of the sap exclusively 
between the wood and the bark. This peculiar contexture of the 
Vine fits it for slit-grafting through the whole of the wood. It is un- 
important whether the scion be inserted vertically or slantwise ; the 
wood unites to the wood no matter in what way they are joined. 
The slit soon fills up, and does not canker as grafted trees usually do. 

Grafting, it must be said, is only applied to thick large Vines ; it 
has been discovered, at least so the Vine-growers of Mame insist, 
that it does not agree with slender ones. 



7^ 



For gratling the Vine, the thickest and strongest lateral wood must 
be taken ; if the cuttings are of thin twigs they will be likely to wither 
with the sun and wind. The foot or lower part of a cross-shoot, where 
there are two or three eyes, very close together, is the kind most 
likely to succeed ; the wood in such a specimen is solid, fibrous, thick ; 
and the circulation plentiful and free. These grafts must be cut before 
hard frost, tied in bundles, and put away in a cellar or vault, or 
under loose earth. 

There are several kinds of grafting used for Vines; shoulder-graft- 
ing succeeds well on old stocks ; so does budding, or insertion ; but 
the most common are slit-grafting and tongue-grafting : latterly es- 
cutcheon-grafting has been much used in spring before the ascent of 
the sap. Grafting by approach also will succeed ; but the most favor- 
able of all methods is crown-grafting on the root. 

Grafting on the root is the best of all ; but I should first remark, 
that in some circumstances, grafting should be performed on the stock ; 
for instance, when it is wanted to have from one plant that is thriving, 
others of the same kind by layering, to fill up empty spots. The sci- 
ons to be used in grafting, are to be cut before the sap ascends into 
them. It is best to gather them in the fall, and bury them for six 
inches of their length into loose mould, secure from frosts, and the 
earth be dampened sufiiciently to prevent them from drying away. 
The same precaution must be used with cross-branches cut in the 
spring, before the ascent of the sap. But the best time for gathering 
the grafts is just after the fall of the leaf. A vine-dresser with proper 
foresight should always have such in reserve, that they may be ready 
in the spring if wanted. If no grafts are needed, these same scions 
can be planted out to take root, and provide nurseries of slips. 

The graft should comprise both yearling and two year old wood ; 
the former should be 8 or 9 inches in length, and the latter, which is 
to form the wedge to be inserted in the root, should be 3 or 4 inches 
in length. 

Before undertaking the operation , the Vine should be allowed to 
exhaust the first access of the sap, which is so overflowingly abundant 
in the first fine spring weather ; because it is rather distilled water 
than juice, and the quantity would be likely to drown the grafts. It 
is therefore more prudent to wait, as is commonly expressed, until the 
Vine has done weeping, at which time the buds are so far evolved as 
to show the leaves. The/ sap has then acquired a consistence sufii- 
cient to agglutinate the graft to the incision, and the grafts having' 
been cut before the rise of the sap, will not have budded, and will be 
the more ready to suck the sap and set in moticn the circulation that 
is to cement them to the Vine. 

10 



/4 

Wifen speed and economy are to be consulted, two men and a cmid 
ten or twelve years of age, are necessary. One lays bare the stocks 
with a hoe to the depth of sixteen inches, and cleans them sufficiently 
of the earth around for the ingrafter to work at his ease. One of the 
workmen saws the stems about six or seven inches below the level 
of the ground ; while he is thus employed on the first row, the ingraft- 
er shapes his grafts and arranges them, as fast as he fixes them, in aba- 
sin, in which there is enough of water to cover entirely the wedges or 
inserting-points of the grafts ; these points must be three or four inches 
long, and as slender as possible. The sloping of these wedges, in 
other words their trimming, should commence immediately below the 
joint or knot by which the two-year-old wood is attached to the year- 
ling wood. 

The first row being dug down and sawed, the ingrafter, with a 
very sharp grafting-tool smoothes the sawed part of the root, makes 
the slit, and inserts one, two, or three grafts, according to the strength 
of the root, and in such a way as to make the separations between 
the grafts as small as possible. It is even more easy and certain not 
to insert the third graft until after the ligature has been put on. The 
ingrafter is followed by the child who hands him the knife, the grafts, 
or the strings, or osier, as they are wanted. The child carries also a 
basket filled with short mould. The ligature being tied, the ingrafter 
lays on a good handful of the mould from the basket, and fills the hole 
up with the loose earth around, leaving only two eyes of each graft 
above ground. After this, there are no precautions necessary save 
not to derange the ^grafts during the tillage necessary in the vine- 
yard. Women should not be allowed to enter it, lest their clothes' 
might brush the loosely fastened scions. The tillage should not be 
very deep ; nothing more need be done than simply to clear away the 
weeds by slightly raking the ground. In striving to do more there is 
a danger of disturbing the new roots that are iorming and shooting 
from the grafts at their insertion. 

An expert ingrafter may operate on two hundred Vine roots and 
more, in the course of a day. In many districts, the Bordelais espe- 
cially, the workman is paid three francs the hundred for all that take. 

Vegetation is not very obvious upon them until the month of July ; 
but then the shoots sprout with a surprising rapidity; and if the 
eyes above ground were really good bude^ they will bear grapes which 
will be ripe in time for the vintage. Large props should not be pirt 
down beside the grafts the first j'ear. The purchase they give to the 
wind causes a shaking of the ground, that puts back the roots. Slen- 
der wands a yard long are quite sufficient for props. If the shoots 



exceed that height, care must be taken to top them down to that mea- 
sure during the summer. 

To succeed well in grafting, only such species should be joined, as 
are analogous in their fruit and the texture of their wood. Those 
kinds that bear thick strong stems will never thrive on stocks of frail 
and slender branches; but those varieties that have long delicate 
stems will become more vigorous and productive if grafted on those 
having a coarser, stronger sort of wood. But the white kind should 
not be crossed with the red ; the grape only leses by it, if intended for 
wine ; at least the red grape does. 

There are many species that are ameliorated by grafting, made to 
bear choicer fruit and also in greater quantity. And all kinds that 
will not thrive in the soil, by being inserted into roots that do succeed 
in it, flourish without difficulty. 

Calm clear weather is the only time for grafting. If a heavy rain 
takes place afler it, there are many chances against its ultimate 
success. Then the superabundant moisture makes the sap watery, 
and too thin to cement and agglutinate the scion to its new root. As 
soon as the grafts do take they must be freed from the weeds. The 
topping of the shoot also, should not be forgotten. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



OF LEJiFIKG. 

Leafing helps the crop and the vine ; the former it renders more 
flavorous and rich, and the latter stouter in the wood. It is done in 
the following manner. The day before undertaking the second til- 
lage, which is generally done in June or July, according as the wea- 
ther is more or less favorable, a workman who imderslands pruning 
is sent to remove the large leaves from the lower and middle parts of 
the stock. He then trims from the end of the main-stem, the sprigs 
and small laterals which have sprouted out there in consequence of the 
great flow of sap, and allows to remain at the head of it, only the large 
leaves belonging to the eyes and sub-eyes of two or three shoots 
There is no need in doing this, for the use of any instrument ; the 
fingers are sufficient for lifting the leaves ; but, immediately after the 
first tillage, care must have been taken to cut away below the ground, 
those scions to the origin of which the pruning-knife could not reach. 
It is known that the more surface is presented to the air by the 
vine, the more moisture it absorbs ; which, if it is more than can be 
transpired, liquefies the sap, and makes the wine watery and liable to 
spoil. Leafing, therefore, by diminishing the extent of surface, makes 
the sap richer, the grapes more bulky and the wine more alcholic. 
Besides, it throws the action of the sun upon the fruit, forcing the 
juices to become more elaborate and perfecting the ripening to the 
most desirable degree. 

Those cultivators who leaf their vines assure me that they are less 
injured by storms ; less given to blighting ; that the fruit is evidently 
enriched, and there is every argument in favor of the supposition, that 
it will lengthen the term of life for the plant. But it must be re- 
marked that all this is meant for such vines as are growing in moist and 
heavy soils ; in dry earths and warm exposures, leafing is hurtful. This 
is an observation that has not escaped the notice of Theophrastus. In 
Calabria, and more particularly near Reggio and Scylla, far from 
removing a single leaf, during the great heats they protect the vines 
with a matting of ferns, lest the fruit should be wilted and stinted by 
the burning of the sun 



BOOK SECOND. 



DISEASES AND CASUALTIES TO WHICH THE VINE IS 
IJABLE : WITH THE MODE OF PREVENTION & CURE 



CHAPTER I. 

OF FROST. 

As the Vine is a native of warm climates, frost is the most likei} 
and the most common enemy it has to encounter. It is the early fall 
frosts that disorganize the shoots not yet completely hardened into 
wood ; the greatest ravages are caused by these late attacks, which 
result often in immedicable injuries to the fruit«bearing branches. 
Hard winter frosts are by no means as dangerous; they never, at least 
in France, hurt any vines but those in low grounds and cold soils. 
Nature has supplied the bud of the Vine with a species of downy co- 
vering, and as it contains scarcely any watery secretion it has not 
much to fear from the cold. It is an extremely rare case for the Vine 
to be frozen entirely ; when it is only the stems that have suffered, 
they are pruned just before the rise of the sap. Spring frosts, some- 
times, have serious consequences when they are very heavy and very 
late ; more generally, however, they have but a slight effect upon 
the shoots. 

To prevent the all-important shoot from being nipped by the frost, 
the Vine-dresser follows this plan. He puts between the rows, and 
along the edges of the vine-yards, on the windward side, heaps of dry 
grass and dead leaves, litter, spoiled hay ; these are covered over with 
wet brush, and a little earth; and are set on fire an hour before 
sunrise. The thick smoke intercepts the rays of the sun, warms the 
air, and melts the frost into dew. This is tke means used on the 



78 



iianks of the Rhine, where the north wind blows severely ) and it it 
were not for this cheap and simple remedy against frost, there would 
be little chance for the hope of the vintager in that quarter. 

Another means recommended, is sprinkling before sunrise by means 
of an engine ; or the use of certain frost-conductors , invented by M. 
Bienenberg, cultivator at Lignitz, in Siberia. The inventor assures 
us that he has derived great advantage from them on fruit-trees for 
several years. His frost-conductors are made with ropes of straw, or 
hemp, or bark ; he winds them round the trees and coils the other 
end at the bottom of a vessel filled with spring water. A single ves- 
sel is sufficient for all the trees of a large espalier. Several of these 
ropes may be put together to surround a definite space, but then both 
of the ends must be led to the vessel, which should be at least 4 or G 
yards distant from any tree, on account of the frost deposited in it, 
and which, if too near, would strike back to some of the ransomed 
trees. This singular preservative is used in several parts of Prus- 
sia and Poland. Instead of moveable vessels, stationary reservoirs 
might be put down with small expense, along the borders of every 
vine-yard. It is an experiment worth trying on a large scale. 



2. Of Hail Storms. 

Next to the injuries of Frost, may be counted those of Hail ; a sin- 
gle shower of which, in spring or summer, is sufficient to destroy the 
hopes of the whole season. The hail tears the leaves, bruises the 
shoots, breaks the stems, in fine, covers the whole vine with wounds 
and hurts, and gives it the most dismal aspect. The only thing to be 
done is to wait until the dreadful gust has passed, and immediately 
prune the plant to re-establish it. The cutting should be made on the 
old wood; only a few main-branches, and those cut short, are to be 
left. All the condemned shoots must be cut away clean to the branch. 
Not long after, the stock sends out a new crop of buds, which give 
grapes the following year, and indemnify the owner the third year 
by a most luxuriant vintage. Those who will not take the pains to 
do this justice by their vines, have scarcely crops worth the name, 
even at the third year. 

However, if the hail storm happens after the middle of July, it is 
better to remove the wounded wood and no more, for there is then 
but little to be gained by severe pruning. In the greater number of 
places, the wood, from that time, will not have a chance to ripen, and 
of course will be destroyed by the first winter frosts. But the bail 



79 



rods, {pamgreUs,) invented by M. Lapostolle 4>t' Amien&y and brought 
to perfection by Professor Trollard of Tarbes, are the only proper 
preventative of the damages of hail. To make the hail-rod, a rope of 
straw is the first thing necessary ; it must be made of ripe rye or 
wheat-straw, soaked and twisted, then plaited with three strand, and 
then plaited with four ply, making twelve strand to the rope. This 
cable of straw must be 25 feet long, and through the centre of it 
there must run a strong twine of tow yarn of twelve or fifteen strands 
to the twist ; and it must be fastened at top and bottom to a stake 
of the same length, solidly fixed in the ground, and armed at the top 
with a metallic point of latten, (tin,) and not of iron. The stake 
should be a pole of firm wood, entirely cleared of the bark which 
makes it liable to rot. The rope is fastened at each end by a wire of 
tin or what is better, red copper ; and must be stretched tight and tied 
to the pole at every foot and a half with the same wire. The tin 
point at top should be li inch, thick and 8 inch, long, and be in 
direct contact with the tow-yarn. These hail-rods should be about 
600 feet apart, and fixed in the most elevated points, such as the 
tops of hills, the roofs of houses, or the trunks of stout trees. Among 
us they cost about a franc a piece, (20 cents,) and last at least fif- 
teen years. Public experiments, on a very large scale have been 
made with them in several districts that used to be incessantly afflict- 
ed with hail storms, and the most unequivocal success has been the 
result. To prove, however, how error and deception forever are at 
hand to pervert all human undertakings, we may make the passing 
remark, that several learned men have opposed the authority of their 
names, well known in science, against this discovery and endeavoured 
to explain away its utility by any and every accidental cause. But 
the fact is, that the cantons in Italy, Switzerland and France (vide 
Linnean Annals,) which are guarded with hail-rods, find the clouds 
that used to break over them with desolating hail and thunderbolts, 
now pass away oj descend in in rain. The principle on which they 
act, is thought to be, by their attracting and detaining vapours in a 
lower legion of the air than the one in which frost is formed. 



Of Fags. 

Fogs are less hurtful to vines that is comiBouiy thought; they 
fertilize when they happen during tillage ; in autumn they assist the 
i ipening of the grape ; but if they last too long, they rot tJie berry ; 
and cold mists render the plant more susceptible to frost and dispose 



it to blight m the Spring. The skill of man has never yet discovered 
either remedy or preventative to this surcharge of moisture in the 
atmosphere and its effects. 

4 Of the Flush or Plethora. 

This disease proceeds from the too great abundance of nourishing 
juices that are afforded to the plant, by a hot, deep soil. It only 
happens in those excellent and heavy bottoms in which the lower lay- 
ers are richer than the surface. It shows itself firstly by the vines, 
sprouting jets and spriglets at every joint, at the expense of the fruit, 
the most of which dwindles away ; the wood swells and reddens, and 

fpreternaturally thick ; it is full of buds and eyes, and becomes brit- 
tle. At first, of the berries that ripen, some are enormously large, 
others of small, irregular sizes ; but in a season or so, the grapes be- 
come dwarfed and are not bigger than small peas. The Gamet and 
Melier kinds arc most liable to this distemper. The only method 
is to tear up the diseased stock ; to dig deep and lay open the soil 
that it may mellow freely ; to open trenches to isolate and confine 
the roots ; to replace the earth taken out by worn out, washed soil, 
sand, moor sods, &c. ; and to set out a new slip and not plant it deep- 
er than 6 inches. 

Of the Goupillure or Stint. 

This disease is owing to a soil too poor, the deceitful surface of 
which has induced the planter to set out, while the bottom is only of 
clean sand. It rarely shows itself until ten years afler planting, and 
just after a remarkably fine vegetation and crop ; but it then is irreme- 
diable. The plant having then sprouted its roots to the uttermost, 
without being able to obtain the aliment it seeks from the sandy 
substratum, pines, and grows feeble, gives a meagre crop, and instead 
of sprouting its leaves in an oblique direction, they stand horizontally. 
There is no cure, the stocks must be grubbed out. 

A complete knowledge of the nature of the ground chosen for the 
vine-yard, is the only safe-guard against the invasion of this complaint. 
In such soils as will produce it, the only way is to plant no deeper 
than 9 inches, and in the fifth or sixth year to intrench the stocks ; 
the roots then must run near to the surface and keep deriving their 
sustenance from the laver of a"ood earth, without piercing deeper. 



li. Of the MildeiCc' 



Tliis disease does not, in the least, resemble the mildew of wheat, it 
should rather be termed a palsy of the vitality of the plant, which, 
in fact, is the name given it in several places. It is caused by an un- 
reraittincr excess of moisture, damp, or humidity around the roots, 
or kept up around the plant by evaporation ;, it shows itself by the 
diluted vigour of the sap, which runs all to wood: the stems are 
blackish and dry to the pith. It generally strikes newly planted slips 
that are set out in an improper situation. 

T. Of Cah!:a-s. 

Cankers often happen to the branches ; tiiey may oiigniate in souie 
internal cause not yet observed or understood ; but they can generally 
be traced to a stroke of the sun after a frost, a hard bruise, or the 
touch of a heap of stable dung. In unfavourable seasons the rapidity 
is astonishing, with which this disease will run through its diife- 
rent stages ; but usually its progress is but slow. The remedy is ti > 
run a knife above and below the part, around the stem, cutting- 
through the bark and pellicle to tlie wood, or binding the part tightly 
with a string. 

bi. Diseases of the Leaves. 
The Blast, the Rust, and the Yelloios. 

The Blast takes place in the summer, owing to hot South winds af- 
ter a fog. It appears suddenly ; the leaves take a red hue and two 
days after, fall off. The grapes wrinkle and dry up. The vine-dres- 
sers, near Paris, call it tlie rougeau, the red plague. There is ano- 
ther kind that is rarely dangerous: it is attributed to a hot sunshine 
after rain, the rays passing through the drops that hang up ^n the plant 
as through burning lenses. It gives the leaves a speckled appearance, 
marbling them with large and small wliite spots. 

The Rust is owing to a parasite fungus, the EriruEus of the vine ; it 
forms on the lower surface of the leaves, spots of a tawny colour, of 
irregular size and shape,, and disorganiz-e« the leaf, making it mifit to 
fulfil its functions 

11 



The Veliows gives tLie plant a sad ' app&araiice ; tae wood vpiii noi 
Uecome solid ; the fruit is scarce worth the name, and the poor, small 
bunches fall off entirely. The disease affects the crops for two years. 
When the leaves have fallen in consequence of the Blast, a light cap 
or matting of straw fixed at top of the prop will, if any thing can, 
shield the grapes and allow them to ripen. If the Rust has made its 
appearance, cut the affected leaves before the seed-like shoots of the 
fungus have ripened, and burn them. For the Yellows, the cure is 
to warm the substratum if possible ; intrenching is good, if no other 
means can effect a restoration of the plant ; but the most usual and 
powerful means is, to turn in, around the foot of the vine, heating 
manures, such as kennel mud and filth, ashes, street sweepings im- 
pregnated with suds, slaughter-house rinsings, urines, &c. 



9. The Blight or Barrenness of the Blossom. - 

This is not exactly a disease, but only a casualt}-, arising from 
heavy, continued rain during the flowering. The rain carries away 
the vivifying dust of the stamens and prevents the fecundation of the 
germs in the capsule. Girdhng is the remedy It may result from a 
cold rain or severe frost, during the blossoming, or owing to the fa- 
tigue caused by furious storms of winds ; or by a thin ill-assimilated 
sap. The effects may be prevented by girdling the fruit-stalk in 
time. The strength of languishing vines may be restored by pier- 
cing the trunk, by tying up the stems, by twisting the end of the 
branches, or by watering the roots with diluted animal matters, wa- 
ters slightly salted; or by liberally scattering over them soaked wood- 
eshes. 



CHAPTER 11. 



OF .ijYJMALS THdT ATTACK THE VL'VE. 
1. Quadrupeds. 

Wild hogs, foxes and" weasels are excessively fond of the ripe 
grapes. As these animals willingly return where they find a plentiful 
supply of enticing food, they are lulled at night with guns or snares. 
Most other quadrupeds will eat the vine-shoots, leaves and fruit ; but 
it is the domestic dog that makes the most incalculable ravages in 
the vine-yard- In several villages, and particularly at Espira de la 
Gli, near Perpignan, (Pyrenees Orientales,) several planters' names 
have been given me, who have been obliged to throw up this cultiva- 
tion, on account of the depredations of the dogs, that carried away 
nearly the whole of their crops. 

Vines in enclosures are not attacked by the dogs ; they only prey 
upon the crops of vineyards that are open and unfenced. To attempt 
to poison either dogs or foxes by nux-voraica, as some planters do, is 
highly injudicious : - cattle or children are as likely to fall victims as 
those for whom the bait is laid. The right way is to diminish the 
number of useless dogs, to oblige owners to tie up those they keep, 
and__to use guns to get ridded of the rest. 

3. Of Birds. 

There are many sorts of birds that are passionately fond of the 
grape, and several of those are rendered quite luscious eating by the 
delicate fare afforded them in the vintage season. They should be 
caught with nets. The orioles and the finches are insatiable ; where 
the vintage is late, the thrushes cause great ravages. The starlings, 
the blackbirds and several other birds of passage come down on the 
vineyards in flocks; and, if let alone, will sometimes clear the whole 
crop. And the same with the wild sparrows. However, their pillage 



is nothing, When regulated by guns and scare-crows, compared to 
their services in destroying the myriads of dangerous insects, whose 
ravages are not easily to be forgotten. 

3. Of Snails. 

In general, snails, whether with or without shells, are not much to 
be feared, though they live on the leaves of the vine. But there is 
one kind, the vintager snail, which does severe damage in rainy sea- 
sons. In the fall it deposits in the ground a great nimiber of eggs, 
which it conceals with much care ; they are wliite, spherical, covered 
with a soft, membraneous skin, and united in clusters. These eggs 
hatch in spring, and at the approach of winter, the snails, several 
together, hide in holes, and keep in their shells, which they shut with 
a calcarious operculum, and do not make their appearance until the 
following spring. They work at night and eat the young shoots to 
the wood ; in the day, when the atmosphere is dry and warm, they 
keep under the largest leaves. 

The hedge-hog and the tortoise dev<>ur these snails ;. the former, if 
caught, is a saleable article for ragouts The snails can be destroyed 
by means of powdered lime, or rather a dilution of lime sprinkled du- 
ring the night, when the weather is rainy. 



CHAPTER III. 



OF TJVSECTS THAT ATTACK THE VINE. 

The smaller that insects are, the more difficult of investigation does 
their chain of being- V-eccme, the greater is the care of nature for 
their preservation, and the more numerous and active are their means 
of reproduction. Insects attack every created thing ; and there is not 
a plant that does not bear one or several families. Some prefer the 
roots, others the trunk ; some the leaves, others the flowers and 
fruit ; indeed there is no part of the plant which is not consumed by 
insects. 

The Vine, when introduced from its native country, brought with 
it the peculiar insects it was destined to sapp .rt ; and it has also 
made acquisitions of others which might as well be spared ; and 
which too often cut off the hopes of the vine-dresser, and deprive him 
of the dues of his cares and labours. The vine-eating insects the 
most troublesome in France are, the tree-beetles, or chaffers ; some 
kinds of loeevils ; the red chrysjtmela and the lady-bug among the 
coleopterous kinds ; among the orthoptera, the grass-hopper, the red- 
winged cricket, and the camel-cricket ; of the hemiptera ; the Cher- 
mes-vitis or Vine-Fretter, of the hymenoptera, the Wasps; of the 
lepidoptera, some of the Pyralis; the several Sphinges; the moth 
that attacks the berry, and the Miner -moth. 

1. The Meloloiithu. 

Of the coleopterous genus under which this family ranks, there are 
two individuals which are severe on the Vine, the common cock- 
chaffer and the Vine-chaffer. 

The cock-chaffer, or Melolontha vitis, in the perfect state devours 
the leaves ; the larva, or white grub is very troublesome about the 
roots in vineyards newly set out. The species are abundant every- 
where, but more particularly troublesome in the northerly depart- 
ments. They also feed on the leaves of the willow, poplar, and fruit 
trees. The Vine-chaffer, (Scarabeus vitis) has but half the size of the 



Common beetle, and its ravages are more to be feared in the sontliern 
provinces, where its destruction is frequently great. The perfect 
insects can only be got rid of by watching upon what trees they 
take their rest for the night ; these trees Tuust be stoutly shaken ear- 
ly in the morning before the dew dries, at which time the msecls: 
are too weak to fly much ; they fall to the ground in showers, quite 
motionless, and by having here and there a hole ready in the turf, 
and by sweeping them in with a rake or a shovel, a little straw and 
shavings heaped over them and set on fire destroys the pest effec- 
tually. The larvffi must be destroyed by the hoeing in May ; when 
they may be gathered by thousands, as they, at that time, work their 
way up close to the surface, and are easily turned out. They may be 
heaped and burned, or given as pasture to poultry, fowls and turkies 
being especiaily fond of them. 

^ome have proposed as a remedy against the beetle and its grub 
sprinklings of tallow, ashes, lime, lettuce seed &c. but all these are 
inferior or ineffectual compared with the means just laid down. 

2, The Crifptoccphalus vitis. 

Is known under a great variety of common names, Clerk-beetle for 
instance, from the traces like letters which it makes on ihe leaves 
which it attacks. 

This scourge of the vineyards is the Cryptocephalus vitis of Ento- 
mologists. It is three lines and a half in length ; the antennae black, 
and yellow at the base ; the head, corslet, belly and feet are black 
and slightly velvetish ; the wing-cases are reddish-chesnut, rufous and 
downy. 

It lives on the leaves and tender shoots; it eats the foot-stalk of 
the bunch, just as the blossom opens ; it pierces the berry when ripe, 
to deposit its eggs, which give birth to myriads of larvae, and cause 
a rottinfT of the fruit which cuts off the crop sometimes at the very 
moment of gathering. The larva winters in the ground, mines and 
countermines, penetrating among the roots, which it gnaws some- 
times to the utter destruction of the plant. About the first of March 
the larva begins its transformation and shortly after the insects come 
out and couple in May. 

There is no really effective means of patting an end to the ravages 
of this insect ; the peculiar meteorological changes of the air have 
sometimes caused them to disappear for years. The only human re- 
source against them is, the ploughing and tillage just before winter, 
which exposes the larvee, when they may be raked out and destroyed : 
or the matching and killing of the perfect insef^f . 



3. The JFeevii. 



The satin greeu vveevil, Rhynr.ites Bacchus, is small aud generally 
found in pairs. It settles on the young cluster, pierces the foot-stalk, 
takes possession of a leaf, curls it and deposits its eggs in it, ag- 
glutinated to it bv some viscous matter. These eggs are about the 
size of a small pin's head and of a yellowish white. The larva is 
hatched in a fortnight ; it is without feet, six lines long, white, smooth 
and with a yellow head. It first feeds upon the leaf in which it 
was hatched : and grubs in the gromid or imder dung during winter, 
until its metamorphosis in the spring. 

There are some seasons in which the Rhyncitcs ruhens is so plenty, 
that it pricks the forward grapes and sucks them, and rolls almost 
every leaf, which is a great injury, as the leaves are renewed at 
the expense of the fruit, and the bunch, deprived of its nourishment 
and support, wastes, wilts, and comes to nothing. The curled leaves, 
nets, purses &c. in which the eggs are deposited, must be clipped off 
and carefully carried to a distance from houses, woods, hedges &c. 
and there burned ;. and about the close of the winter, the manure, if 
any, around the root of the Vine, must be raised and set fire to; as 
it is the place of refuge not only to this, but many other grubs. This 
measure will make a pretty thorough clearance. 

Another weevil called the grey weevil is highly destructive in the 
South. It attacks the sprouts just as they begin to unfold and pre- 
vents then- full developement. In the departments of Aube, Gard 
and Haute-Garonne, they use against it the usual precautions against 
catterpillars in general. 

4 The red Chrysomela. 

This insect, the Chrysomela lucida of Linnceus, feeds on the Vine 
leaf, but the injm-ies it occasions are so small as to escape notice 
except in seasons when they are uncommonly numerous ; but even 
then, they are nothing to be compared to the ravages of those already 
mentioned- 

5. T]te CocclncUa glolosa. 

The larvae of this insect, commonly called lady-bug, eat the Vine- 
ieaves, but they will also, it is said, destroy Aphides ; they are 
sometimes so numerous as to cover the stems ; they have a horny 
head, a naked body and tail, annular; with six feet. 



Cj. The Grassh4)j)per or GryUus grido-taipo 



This voraeious insect gnaws holes in the joints of the Vines, whicii . 
rf they do not kill outright, will at least throw the plant into a state 
of languor and debility which is finally fatal to its produce. This 
grasshopper, a kind of mole-cricket, cuts the roots that lie in its way 
and makes an active chase after other insects which it greedily de- 
vours. The best means prop sed to destroy it, is to keep the soil 
moist ; but then it docs not agree with the Vine. It may for a time 
be the lesser evil of the two. 

7. The Mantis Teligiosa or Camel- Cricket. 

This insect is falsely accused of m )re injuries to the Vines than it 
in reality commits. It is only in thr* larva state that it feeds on the 
tender leaves. In its perfect stat- i' '^'es on insects; it catches them 
with singular address ; and in eaiuig, ahvays commences upon one 
end of the abdomen. 

S. The red-winged CricJut — Acrydium stridulum. 

The extremities of its red wings are black and folded lengthwise 
imder two coriaceous sheaths. The corslet is ridged and the hinder 
legs are formed for leaping. It cats the leaves ; is very voracious, and 
its prodigious fertility make it formidable at times. The female lavs 
her eggs towards the close of autmmi. in the cracks of fat soils, 
where they remain until the first fine day in spring. By the end 
of May the yoimg crickets come fortli ; they are not winged, and cast 
their skins several times before the perfect state. 

In our northern departments they are not numerous, and are caught 
in nets ; but they infest the South in some seasons to that degree, 
that they have to be routed like annies. The starlinors and some 
other birds are fond of them. 

9. The Chermes viUs or Vine-Freiier. 

Commonly called gall-fly ; it is brownish, and settles ou the trunic 
and branches of the Vine, where it lays great quantities of eggs 
which it protects with a light covering of white down from its bodr 



89 



The eggs are reddish, oblong and shining ; uie yoUiig maect dues 
not pass through the larva state, and is of a light brown colour ; the 
greater number are devoured by another insect called ichneumon 
coccorum. Those which escape this enemy mostly attack the trel- 
lised or arbour Vine ; the sap of which they so exhaust as to cause 
the death of the plant , if their number is great. They adhere so firm- 
ly to their hold, that to clear them, a knife must be passed between 
them and the bark, a very delicate operation, which must be per- 
formed with great care. 

10. The Wasp. 

This insect attacks the very finest sorts of grapes; thus the jVIusk- 
Chasselas, from whicTi the Grenache wine is made is, its favorite. 
It pierces the epidermis, insinuates its trunk and sucks away the saccha- 
rine mucilage to such a degree that the skin is often left a mere 
empty shell. 

But it should be told, that if the wasp does select the ripest grapes 
the berries it has pricked always contain less fermentable matters and 
thereby influence the quality of the wine. 

11. The Pyralis or Silver-Moth. 

The male caterpillar of this kind commits great ravages m the 
vineyards of the black Morillon. It is nearly two inches in length, 
with sixteen feet, the head black, and smaller than the body, which 
is ferruginous and composed of six rings with here and there a few 
hairy moles. Its mouth is armed with nippers that cut the leaves, 
stems, footstalks and epidermis of the berry. The injured parts gradu- 
ally dry, and the caterpillar then spreads over them some very slen- 
der, white silky threads. In this manner it makes a lodgement in 
the flower or on the fruit just formed, and blights the crop. It comes 
out from its cell at sunset, or sooner if the day is dusky, especially 
when it is rainy, but it doea not journey far. In one month the larva 
assumes the chrysalis state and its white cones are mingled confu- 
sedly with the remnants of the withered flowers and husks of the 
berries. In a fortnight the phalena makes its appearance grey 
wings, striped with black ; the body yellow and velvetty 3 and the 
antennae sUghtly pectinate. 

This night-bntterfly places its eggs in the woody fibres of the stalks 
19 



i'roin wiiicii, early lu liie spring, tlie caterpillar coiutM oui. In hof 
seasons it does not do much damage ; but in rainy ones it creates 
severe losses. 

Roberjot, who was assassinated at the congress of Rastadt. cleared 
the Maconnais of the Pyralis which infested the rich vineyards, by 
burning for an hour at^night-fall, on the heights in the vicinity of the 
vineyards, fires of straw, litter, small faggots &c. The phalena are 
attracted from a great distance ; and thus with a few cents of ex- 
pense miUions of these hurtful creatures are consumed. These fires 
attract not only these, but all other night-flying insects, the larva 
of which is hurtful to fruit and forest trees. These fires must bo so 
stationed as to cause an eddy of the smoke and flame. From the 
first of July to the fifteenth of August, according to the locality, is 
the proper time for this to be done ; and when once begun they must 
be continued for ten days together until the weather is suddenly cold? 
or rainy, or windy, at which time the insects cannot be tempted to fly, 

12. The Tinea or MiTier IVorm. 

Js rife in southern vineyards ; the larva is very small ; and har- 
bours and feeds between the upper and lower skin of the leaf, where 
it eats out long galleries. When the time of metamorphosis ap- 
proaches, it cuts two very tliin pieces of epidermis, oval and per- 
fectly alike ; it glues them by the edges with its silk, leaving one end 
open ; and as its body is only composed of close rings, it has recourse 
to skill to move itself, even over smooth surfaces, to a place of secu- 
rity. It comes out of its cocoon, and fastens down a little heap of 
silk J to this it attaches a thread by which it draws up its house and 
itself: this process it repeats until it has reached its destination ; 
aud its place of retreat is discovered by the clue of silk which it 
has left on its track. 

The Miner worm is less destructive than the moth-cateipillar ; 
it is eaten besides by a red ichneumon spotted with yellow, which 
pierces the body of the caterpillar and buries its eggs in it, which 
when hatched, nourish themselves on the juices of the Tin'ea. 

J 3. The Sphim 

The larvae of the Sphinx dpenovy S. celeno, S. porcellus, devour 
the leaves of the Vine ; but they never appear in great numbers and 
their iniuriei? are not much felt. The caterpillar of the 6'. celeno. 



91 



is farowmsii, with eyes on the sides of its ueckj and two white lines 
down the sides. In July and August it feeds, and in a month curls 
some leaves, glues them in a spire and becomes a brown chrysalis 
darker at one end than another. 



14. The Tinea of the Cluster. 



This larva is naked, red, with sixteen feet and is called by the 
vine-dressers' Vine-worm. It feeds in the inside of the berry. In Oc- 
tober it eats the grape-stone ; — the berries thus injured detoriate the 
wine, as they are entirely deprived of the saccharine principle ; this 
requires the greater attention on the part of the vintner to clear out 
such injuredgrapes, as it is difficult, if not imposBible. to destroy 
the insect. 



BOOK THIRD. 



THE ART OF MAKING WINE. 



CHAPTER I. 

OF THE VIYTAGE. 

The art of making wine comprises a long series of operations of 
different degrees of delicacy, but all of equal importance, in consum- 
mating the article to a degree of excellence and durability fit for the 
purposes ot commerce. Two faults in the fixing of the time for the 
vintag e r.ia v be noticed; the one when from a fear of the grapes being 
robbed, tx>ej are gathered before they are full ripe ; the other when 
they are left to hang too long, which makes the wine weak, hard to 
clear, and very apt to be full of phlegm. 

The mark of the proper term of ripeness, is when the pelUcle is 
thin, transparent, and does not yield short to the teeth } when the co- 
]our is at the deepest ; the white becoming grey, the reddish purple 
deep black ; when the stem of the bunch is dry and woody, and the 
colour brown like the bark; when the cluster depends, hanging down- 
wards visibly, for the maturity increases the weight ; when, which 
is an unfailing sign, the berry comes off with a touch, leaving on the 
stem a transparent blob of the pulp, of a winy colour. 

This term is generally waited for in all the south of France ; but 
in the more northerly parts, where the early frosts of September £md 
October are much to be feared, they gather earlier. Dead ripe black 
grapes may, m extreme cases, be left to the attacks of slight frosts; 
but if imripe, a frost does them great injury ; there will be a loss of 
one fiflh in the quantity of the wine : and it will be weak, pale, and apt 
to Four and turn ropy 



93 



The vintage should take place of a fair day, and when the sun has 
ried the dew. It must be done with the greatest activity and des- 
iiatch, because dry sunny weather at that period of the year is variable. 
Tf rain comes on, the vintage must be put back ; the delay of a day 
or two is better than to manufacture, from wetted grapes, a wine 
that wOl not keep. Grapes gathered during a hot and dry time, or 
at a middling temperature, ferment the quickest and strongest. 

To gather the fruit, some use a pruning hook, or knife, others their 
hands, and the greater number, slender shears. The pruning hook is 
wholly unfit; the instrument is clumsy, and in cutting the stem of the 
bunch, the plant necessarily suffers a shock which makes the ripest 
berries fall, and also dried leaves, which soak up the juice, diminish 
the quantity of the must and communicate an acrid savour to it. The 
pruning knife gives the plant a still stronger shake. The abuse is 
even greater where the vintagers are allowed to use their fingers ; the 
stem rarely breaks at the first pull ; and when repeated, the jerk it 
communicates to the branch, rains down berries and leaves over the 
whole groimd. The only advantageous way is to use a very long, 
slender pair of shears, which divide the stem with care and occasion 
110 loss. 

The vintager's basket should be small, and he should lay the bunch 
ni it as lightly as possible, for fear of bruising the grapes. In large 
baskets, the fruit is heaped and crushed, and the richest part of the 
juice runs to waste. A deep basket, holding two pecks, narrow at 
bottom, and gradually spreading broader to the brim, is the proper 
kind. This shape allows the weight of the fruit, instead of resting 
on the bottom entirely, to faU more on the sides of the basket, which 
prevents the crushing of the lowermost bunches. The vintager, as he 
cuts, should pick out and throw away the dry, rotten, or green ber- 
ries. The dried berries soak up the must and give out an acid taste ; 
rotten grapes ruin the wine ; the green ones give a harsh rough taste, 
and make the wine likely to sour. If such grapes are not picked out, 
there will result, among the other evils they occasion, an unequal fer- 
mentation of the saccharine and aqueous matters and a striking detoria- 
tion in the quality, which carmot be masked. The fruit is transported 
to the wine vats in waggons, or on the shoulders of men, or in pan- 
niers slung across horses. The gatherings of each vintager are re- 
moved into larger willow baskets, or into barrows expressly for this 
use. 

The custom of using willow panniers is none the better for being 
the most ancient known ; owing to their elasticity the slightest move 
ment causes the fruit to sagg and the skins to break, consequently th^* 



juice is constantly leaking. The waggon jolts too violently to be a 
proper means of carriage ; wooden barrows transported by men, or by 
horses or asses, carry the grapes to the vat, without loss, or bruising 
or overheating. The grapes de la Marne (for Champagne wine) are 
deposited in broad baskets slung across horses ; the baskets are care- 
fully covered with large cloths to keep off the heat of the sun and 
prevent an untimely effervescence. 

A careful vine-dresser therefore will have the vintage only undertaken 
in fine weather ; he will allow no awkward vintager to endamage his 
crop ; he will hire labourers enough to finish the work in one day ; he 
will superintend the work himself, with the assistance of a strict and 
able overseer ; he will have the stems of the bunches cut as close to 
the cluster as possible ; he wjII require his vintagers to pick out and 
throw away the rotten berries, and to leave on the plant the unripe 
bunches ; he will supply them with small baskets only; and will see 
that the clusters are removed into the panniers gently and with duo. 
care, and transported to the press by horses or carried by hand. 



CHAPTER II. 



OF STEMMING THE GRAPES. 

Vine-dressers are still divided on the question whether it is better 
to remove or to leave the stems of the bunch in the press. Rozier 
recommends stemming ; and owing to him it is universally practised 
in the neighbourhood of Lyons, and particularly in the famous vine- 
grounds of Ampuis and St. Cyr. Near Bordeaux they carefully stem 
all the red grapes from which they wish to make a better wine than 
common ; and it is generally done, also, wherever pure, superior wines 
are wanted 

The authority of the celebrated Rozier, and of the vine-gromids 
mentioned seems beyond questioning ; and yet the stemming of grapes 
has had to be given up in the Orleannois and all those districts which 
do not raise sweet grapes. Experience goes before science, says 
Bernard de Palissy ; the facts are such, and science has resolved the 
problem. 

We now therefore know that stemmmg is proper in the South, 
where the wine is rich and generous ; while in the North, where the 
wine is weak or insipid, in seasons that the grape is very ripe and 
juicy, it is better not to stem, or if it is done it is better to spare the 
stems of at least part of a the crop. 

; The stem contains an acerb astringent principle which renders the 
wine rough during the two first years, but contributes to its preser- 
vation. This principle corrects the weakness of the must, and facili- 
tates the fermentation according to the temperature of the year. It 
then becomes an agreeable quality, and by increasing and heightening 
the flavour of the wine, adds to its value. 

There are several ways of stemming ; the readiest and easiest is 
that practised in the district ot Besancon. A large vat is constructed, 
ten or twelve feet in circumference, or 3* in diameter by 2i feet in 
height. On the inside, about ten inches below the rim of the staves, 
there are three brackets to support a false bottom ; this is made of 
three or four pieces of plank [fastened together by two cross-pieces 
nailed athwart,] shaped round, to fit close in the vat. It is pierced 
with holes large enough for two or three grapes to pass at once ; and 



96 



the holes so close that it is a perfect riddle. The false bottom can b e 
raised or put down by the hand, if made properly and not too tight. 
The stemmer throws in upon it several clusters, and shakes and rubs 
them in all directions until the stems are left bare. He puts in but 
a few clusters at a time, that the grapes may escape the more easily. 
A handy workman will clean by this means from 1000 to 2000 gallons 
in a day. 

In some places they make use of an instrument like a hay -fork, 
which the workman shakes and moves circularly in the vat among 
the grapes. By doing it very rapidly, he removes the fruit from the 
stem and collects the stems at the surface, from which he removes 
them with his hand. Some also stem n'ith a common willow sieve, 
the bands of wliich are from 3 to 3* inches apart, and the brim plaited 
uncommonly thick and strong. 

White grapes ought aot to be stemmed ; it is observed that wine 
from such is less alcoholic and more apt to become turbid. 



CHAPTER Hi. 



UF THE WINE PRESS. 

The Grecians, before putting the fruit into the wine-proc!ii, iiacd to 
spread it on a frame and expose it to the sun for ten days ; it was 
then kept five days in an airy, but shady place, to ripen it and make it 
svveeter, say their writers. The operation is in practice to tliis day iu 
several isles of the Archipelago, and also in Spain, especially near St . 
Lucar ; in parts of Italy, for instance Calabria, and in sonie of cm- 
North-eastern departments. 

The crushing of the grape assists fermentation. It is generally 
attended to as the vintage arrives from the vineyard. What is mostly 
used for this purpose are square boxes open at top and pierced at bot- 
tom with holes, into which a workman gets, who is shod for the pur- 
pose with large wooden clogs or stout shoes. He treads and stamps 
as fast as he is able. The expressed juice runs into the vat below 
ajid when all the berries are mashed, he either throws the murk into 
the vat, or on one side, according as the murk is to be fermented witli 
the must or not ; and then recommences his tramping. 

In other places they press the grapes in troughs, which is more 
suitable ; or they wait for the vat to be sufficiently full and then send 
into it two or three men, naked, who tread the grapes with their feet, 
aud squeeze with their hands those that swim. These methods are 
dangerous for those who tread, and are also imperfect, as much of 
the fruit remains entire ; the fermentation must be carried to the point 
of bursting these berries, which delays the general fermentation and 
is contrary to the principle that it should proceed uniformly. 

To remedy these inconveniencies, Farmentier recommends the 
mode in use in the Vine-grounds of Champagne ; — to select the bunch- 
es that are entirely ripe ; to transport them carefully to the press, 
and arrange them without bruising on the press, and then to lower the 
screw. But this method is tardy, and when the grape has a hard 
skin, opposes too great a resistance. De Bournissac and Gay of 
Montpellier (see Bulletin de Pharmacie, torn. IV. p. 411 and 558) 
have invented a press that is much too expensive ; a cabinet maker 
of Castres, one Guerirt, has invented oiie much eimnler, which is 
13 



98 



thus spuken of in the Agricultural Transactions of Toulouse. This 
machine works by two wooden cylinders, [at the bottom of a. hopper] 
turning in opposite directions by means of two toothed wheeb. An 
experience of five years has tested the machine and shown its econ- 
omy and perfection." It costs from 70 to 84 francs. I may as well 
also notice one to which I myself gave the finishing hand. The first 
idea belongs to J. J. S. Acker de Chartres ; its merit is its cheap 
construction, and its affording every advantage required. It is about 
the height of a man ; and consists of a wooden frame, from whicli 
is suspended a hopper, into which the grapes are flung, and one side 
of which is continued down, projecting out, with guards on each side, 
and forming an open gutter or slide. The hopper is closed at bottom 
by a cylinder garnished with large, flat nail-heads, and provided with 
a handle ; a man stands and turns it with ease ; the cylinder is 3 feet 
long, and one foot thick ; in front of it there is adjusted a comb of iron 
nails, which work between the nail-heads on the cylinder and clean 
away obstructions. There is not a single berry that escapes, and 
the juice, skins and stones flow down the open slide into a tub, which 
is moved away as fast as filled. 

The operation of crushing must be perfect, and every grape in the 
vat ought to go through it, to make a complete, finished wine ; the 
above machine is so simple and easy of construction that any vine- 
dresser can provide himself with one, and by the equal and simultan- 
eous fermentation of the must, have a chance to rival the wines of 
price, for which no pains or expense is spared in the pressing. 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF THE VINOUS FERMEJVTATIOjV. 

Every farmer of the least care wili have his vats cleaned out with 
i]\e greatest attention before the beginning of the vintage. Some 
rub them with very ripe Portugal quinces ; others, if the vats are 
of stone, give them several coats of quicit-lime, to destroy the malic 
acid in the must. If the vats are of wood, some wash them with 
warm water; dry them and pour brandy down the sides ; others rub them 
with decoctions of aromatic herbs, with salt and water, with boiling 
must, &c. All these methods are good, when cleanness is the result ; 
but quick-lime has, I fear, some inconveniencies ; the calcareous salts 
formed by this apphcation, by mixing with the wine may communicate 
a bad taste to it, and properties injurious to health. 

The quickest fermentation is the best ; to make sure of it, a vat that is 
begun must be filled on the same day ; the grapes also are not to be 
carried to the vat until towards ten o'clock, or even noon, so that the 
heat of the sun may warm the must. If it is foreseen that the vat 
cannot be filled in twelve hours at furthest, the vintage had better 
be deposited carefully in puncheons, and the pressing be deferred 
until next day. It is unsafe also to have vats of too great a size ; be- 
cause in cold seasons, they are harder to heat, and more difficult to 
fill, and the wine is apt to lose its bouquet in them. The farmer who 
can master these objections does well to prefer the large vat, because 
the fermentation is always more active in a large body of must tlian a 
small one. 

The presence of sugar and Vv^ater are not^one necessary for fer- 
mentation ; heat also is required up to 12 degrees of Reaumur at least. 
To this effect several gallons of the must are to be heated in kettles, 
and poured into the vat. One precaution must be remembered ; the 
must is to be removed from the fire the instant it has reached the 
boiling point, or it will acquire a sweetness that will make the wine 
unfit for keeping. If the vintage has taken place during a very warm 
spell, or even during a middling temperature, the fruit will contain 
heat enough, and no external assistance be reaeired to promote the 



lOi) 

rerii'ientaLioji. If the crop is not as sugary a-s usual, owiiig lo a col«i 
summer, a half pound of brown sugar must be allowed for every ten 
barrow-fulls of grapes. The must also may be scented with the young 
sprouts of peach or almond trees, and some few handfulls of dried 
elder-flowers. As soon as ever the vat is filled, the whole mass of 
juice must bo stirred up briskly, and covered down with a lid or cover, 
or boards, laid over it. 

In a few hours the fermentation is in full train ; but sometimes 
it is delayed for several days for want of the contact of the external 
air. When fermentation begins, the substances become troubled, dis- 
placed, and effervescent, as if about to separate. The heat rises to 
20^ of Reaumur ; the hquid swells to a greater volume ; then, much 
carbonic acid gas is evolved, and the wine is made. That gas once 
let loose, the stir is appeased, the liquid falls, grows cold, the foreign 
substances precipitate, and the wine becomes a limpid fluid. 

All enliffhtened practice proves that air is a veliicle necessary and 
favorable to fermentation ; and that if preserved from the contact of 
the air the must can be long kept from change or alteration. But the 
experiments of some chemists prove that although the must in tight 
vessels goes very slowly through the process of change, it never- 
theless does become wine, and that of a very rich kind. From which 
arises two doctrines concerning the making of %vine, one that it should 
ferment quick, the other that it should ferment sloic ; the one decla- 
ring that atmospheric air aids the process and assists in carrying off 
the gaseous matters which must disengage themselves from the hquor. 
to perfect it into wine ; the other insisting that wine fermented be- 
yond the contact of the air is richer, with more bouquet and more 
alcohol, which the carbonic acid gas carries away where the fermenta- 
tion is open. The difference of these two parties is mostly in words ; 
und the gordian knot is easily unloosed. To make good wine there 
is one ferment with agitation required, which, to be complete must go 
on quickly ; and needs the contact of the air to evolve it thoroughly. 
The term of this ferment is the sinking of the scum or head. Theji 
comes on the second fejpient, which is slow and progressive. This is 
the time to close the vats so close as only to leave issues for the 
carbonic acid gas to escape. 

Modes of making wine differ according to the quality or species of 
the grape, the nature of the soil of the vineyard, the temperature the 
latter enjoys, and even v\'e may say, according to the notions of the 
vintner. In some districts the wine only remains in the vats from 
3G to 40 hours ; in the neighbourhood of Lyons, it is left from 6 to 
S <lays at most : in many places the term is usually from 12 to 20 days : 



101 



lu the Southeast departments it remains 25, 30 and 40 days; at Narbonnt: 
it is sometimes left 70 days. If you ask why, when the fermentation in 
over, and the wine is made, it is thus left upon the lees to clarify in 
the vat, the answer is, it is the custom ; if you say that there will be 
great loss, that the head will grow dry and sour, the answer is still 
the same. 

When the fermentation has gone through the necessary degrees, 
and the suspended residuum has been expelled to the surface of the 
fluid, forming the chaplet or head, as it is called ; if there is heat 
enough in the vat to harden the upper part of the head, and procure 
a certain siccity which makes it like a crust or solid substance, and 
if some oily or resinous particles float upwards and make the head 
compact and closely adhering to the sides of the vat, there is no rea- 
son why the wine may not be left untouched. So long then as the 
wine is covered from the air, and there are no openings to favour the 
evaporation of the alcohol, the thick head serves as v/ell as any lid to 
protect the fluid beneath. And if the head is so firm as to remain 
in its place notwithstanding the falling of the wine from the slo70 
fermentation, the mne beneath will be better than any of the same 
crop that has been exposed to immediate racking off. However, no 
wine can remain without injury 30, 40, or 70 days in the vat, without 
being a bad wine, and the vat too warm. I say a bad wine, because 
it must be wanting in the saccharine phlegm that holds in solution, 
or serves to incorporate, the aqueous part with the oily and resinous 
ones. When this tract or mucilage is plentiful, it will absorb and 
keep back those oily and resinous particles which must rise and cling 
to the scum to preserve the latter from mould, and make it fit to pro- 
tect the liquor from the air. If the warmth of the vat is great, it 
attenuates these oily particles and the head becomes porous or filmy, 
unfit to shelter the wine, and acetous f-rmentation begins. On the 
other hand, when the phlegm and spirit are in an uncommon propor- 
tion, they make the insensible perspiration so brisk and tumultuou?., 
that the heat evolved draws from the head a carbonic gas with whicii 
the wine becomes charged, and is in consequence, harsh, hard and 
heady, as dangerous for use as it is unpleasant to the palate. 

But wine in France is mostly fermented exposed to the air. The 
custom is rendered respectable by experience, and by the wisest culti- 
vators and farmers who reason on all their customs and all the tradi- 
tions that guide them. I have therefore no great idea of the new 
method known by the name of the Elizabeth Gervais' Patent, and 



102 



which seems to have been borrowed from my late friend Faburoni" or 
Don Casbois of Metz, who constructed in 1782 an hydraulic valve, of 
the same characters as the wine-making apparatus of Gervais j or 
from Goyon de la Plombanie, who in 1757 described an analogous pro- 
cess ; or from the Neapolitan Porta, or the German Chemist Becker 
who lived in the beginning of the seventeenth century. The new 
invention is intended to prevent the escape of the spirituous and bal- 
samic portions ; but the more rapid and agitated is the fermentation, 
the less is the chance for the alcohol and aroma to be carried off, owing 
to the vehement disengagement of the carbonic gas which keeps them 
down. The more quiet and slowly this disengagement operates, the 
more completely this gas saturates itself with the alcohol and fra- 
grance. It is intended also to keep the scum and film from growing 
sour, or putrescent, wliich they never do, when the vintner knows his 
business and takes proper care. It has, moreover, been proved by 
pubUu experiments, 1st, that the old method is the only one that 
preserves the peculiar aroma and inherent qualities of the species ; 
2nd, that the Gervais Patent does not increase the product by a thou- 
sandth part, ; 3rd, that the liquor which rises and is condensed in 
the retort-cover, is three parts water, and the rest a brandy, fetid with 
the odour of tin ; 4th, that there is much to be gained by covering 
the vat closel}', with the precaution, however, of leaving the sufficient 
openings for the carbonic gas to go off readily ; 5thly, that tart, weak 
wines, treated by the patent, do not become rich or even agreeable ; 
they only gain a higher colour. 

As for the vinification, the vintage in loosely covered vessels, un- 
dergoes a thorough transformation into wine and spirit : both the must 
and the lees ; while in the close or slow fermentation, the assimilation 
is irregularly completed in tlie racking casks, and the lees, on distil- 
lation, afford two or three degrees less of alcohol. 

The Gervais-Patent, also, gives to delicate, rosy wines a deeper 
colour, which, in commerce, may injure their sale, the characters 
and appearances of such wines being established ; but it does not make 
them purer or more fragrant. Whether the wines prepared by it will 
keep as well, either, remains to be seen; they are, as yet, too green 
for an opinion to be given. 

We would not have taken such pains to show the errors of this 
system, save from a rooted antipathy of such attempts to profit by 
the restrictive conditions of a process, first patented and then falsely 
cried up. Recommendations given with mercantile complaisance and 

* Dell' arte difare il vino, in 8vo. paofo 1G9 of the Florence editions 
of 1765. 89, and 1790. and p. 21, of the French translation of I'^Ol. 



facility, cr extorted by importunity, have been paraded for the purpose 
of enriching the inventor, which, in an age when science throws open 
the gates of benefit to all, is a poor effort at monopoly, and falls with 
expense and disappointment on the laborious and diligent manipulator 
of the products of the Vine. Finally it may be said that it is profit- 
able in the South to cover the vats partially, because otherwise the 
wine would be likely to sour ; but in the North the vats must be ex- 
posed during the violent fermentation, and closed up as soon as it is 
over. The wine, it is true, is not as rich, but experience proves that 
thia is the only proper mode to prevent its being soured. 



CHAPTER V. 



OF THE WL\E VESSEL^, VATS 

Tlie casks, like the vats, should be made ready before the vintage. 
If they are new, the wood employed in their construction will have 
rm astringency and bitterness that may be imparted to the wine ; 
Ihis serious evil is prevented by soaking them well with cold water, 
then with hot water in v/hich peach leaves have been infused, and 
finally with salt and water. Each time the cask must be well roUed 
and shaken, and the different waters left in it long enough to penetrate 
the substance of the wood and draw out the hurtful principle. After 
the salt and water is emptied out, two pints or a gallon of fermenting 
must, brought to boiling heat, must be thrown in, and the cask bunged 
and shaken ; after which the must is allowed to run out. But some 
vine-dressera, in place of the above operations, only rinse well with 
hot v.-ine. 

If the casks are old, and have been used, the head is taken out, 
and the gravel, or coat of tartar that skirts the iimer side, is scraped 
off with a sharp instrument ; after which the whole is thoroughly 
rinsed with warm water, or hot must, or hot wine. If casks have 
contracted any bad taste ; if they have been touched with mould, they 
must be burnt ; nothing can ever be done to conceal or repair these 
faults, save transiently ; they soon re-appear and spoil the wine. To 
prevent such accidents, the casks, as soon as empty, must be well 
drained and turned over on the side, ajid an inch square of brimstone 
match burned in at the bung-hole ; then bunged as tight as possible 
and stowed away in a dry place. Before using a cask it should be 
ascertained that it has not soured, which can be found out by introdu- 
cing a burnmg match, or a piece of lighted paper ; if they go out, 
it requires purifying. It should be turned down, the bung open, over 
running water, or the sandy floor of the cellar, for four and twentv 
hours, then rinsed and sulphured by burning a match in it. The 
hoops should be examined, to see that none are started or in bad 
order ; water should be poured in to find whether the staves are tight. 
If they are loose, water must be put m, and the cask allowed to 
stand awhile on one side, then turned to the other, until there is nc 
leaking ; it must then be drained. 



lOd 



Casks are mostly made of oak : some districts prefer tliem of beech 
wood, because, say they, the wine ripens better in such, and takes a 
pleasant taste. They vary greatly in size, but more generally are 4 
feet 3 inches long ; of cylindrical form, sHghtly bulging at the middle, 
like an egg with the two ends squared off. The invention of them is 
attributed to]the people of the Alps,* who varnished them with wax 
inside, and outside with pitch or rosin. There are inconveniencies 
amiexed to them, such as the qualities of the wood which are soluble 
in the wine ; the shrinking or swelling of the staves according to the 
state of the weather, and thus giving access to the external air and 
allowing internal gases to escape from the liquor. Tbe}'^ go in differ- 
ent places by the several names of puncheons, casks, pipes, butts, 
barrels ; when larger, they are termed hogsheads, and when of enor- 
mous size they are called tuns. The latter are excellent for hastening 
the ripening of wine ; a la rge quantity of wine together, soouer takes 
the characters of age than small portions, kept separately. 

It has been frequently recommended, in place of casks to use pot- 
ter's vessels, glazed the like high-glazed pottery of the tmcients. Such 
vessels, have undoubtedly, the advantage of preserving a more equal 
temperature ; but they are all more or less porous, and, in the long- 
run, may change the wine. We might, like the Romans, remedy this 
porosity by coating them with wax inside and pitch outwards, or 
else with a cement of lime ; &c. but wax will sour the wine, and lime, 
af I have already elsewhere stated, may add to it disagreeable proper- 
ties. But worse than this, — these vessels are awkward to be moved, 
and very brittle, not permitting the multiplied handlings that casks 
receive without injury. 

" Pliny. Hist. J^at. lib. XIV. cap. 21. 



14 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF THE DURATION OF THE FERME.YTATIVE PROCESS. 

As yet there is no other rule than custom to determine the moment 
for drawing off from the vat. The rule with some, is w^hen the wine 
drawn off has no bubbles in it. nor froth upon it ; with others, they 
work a stick around in the liquid and see whether it wheels, as it is 
called, or makes a circle of foam; others judge by the deep colour: 
others by the coldness of the vat ; others again by the mild and sweet 
taste. 

As a principle, 1st if the vat is very large and warm the must should 
remain in it but a short time ; 2d if the saccharine matter abounds, and 
the must is thick, and the temperature low, the fermentation will be 
longer. 3d A defective fermentation in the vat, may, in a manner, be 
remedied, in the casks, by closing them sooner ; 4th, but there are no 
means of curing a wine that has overpast the due limit and become 
fart, or musty, or spoiled with carbonic acid, so as to restore it to its 
proper qualities. 

The wines of St. Basle, Verzy, Versenay, and Mailly (de la Marne) 
knowni for their fine colour, great dehcacy, high raciness and fra- 
grance, remain only 6 hours in the vat. The most superior wines of 
the departments of Saone and Loire, Cote-dor and I'Yonne, and 
especially those from the Vine-grounds of Pouilly, Meursault, Ton- 
nerre, and ChabUs, cannot stand the vat longer than from 6 to 10 
hours. The wine from Volney, which is the lightest, most delicate 
and agreeable of all the wines of the hills of Beaune, or even of all 
France, is left in the vat no more than 6 hours. But there are some 
wines not yet perfect afler nine days of fermentation. 

The length of time required for the vat is sometimes only important 
on account of the colour ; as in the case of Pomard wine for instance. 
But if tlie pressing crushed the whole of the grapes sufficiently, so 



io: 

tliat the colouring matter would mingle with the must without our 
having to depend on the brisk or^ violent fermentation to extract ii, 
it might, I think, be found, that the stem and the stone are both 
better cleared away than left in the vat, notwithstanding their appa- 
rent advantage in some cases. This idea is merely hazarded to elicit 
experiments by well-informed vine-dressers. Meanwhile let us look 
to the matter in hand. 

The proper time for drawing off is when the transformation to wine 
is complete ; but, the sinking back of the chaplet, or sheet of scum, 
though it shows that the strongest fermentation is over, yet, as there 
are several degrees of change to be undergone by the liquid beneath, 
before it falls as low as it should go, it remains to be seen how low it 
must have sunk to afford a sure indication to judge of the completion 
of the wine. The motion of the wine, or its limpidity and calmness 
when a glass is drawn off, are by no means signs worth resting on. 

Colour and taste would be preferable indications, but taste and smell 
are senses so differently enjoyed by different individuals, and of the 
infinite shades of colour it is so difficult to render a just idea, that 
neither can be looked to. As the heat developed by fermentation 
depends on the sugar and spirit in combination, it is idle to refer to 
what is so perpetually variable. Indeed, vats will olten have reached 
their maximum of heat at the end of 21 or sometimes 10 hours, and the 
wine not be complete till 20 or 26 hours after. The thermometer 
alone is therefore no infallible guide of vinification. 

The essential point is, then, to find a fixed, invariable method, inde- 
pendent of circumstances, and at the same time capable of application 
by intellects of the meanest grades, so that not the dullest workman 
need fail to comprehend it. My late friend BeJfroy de Beauvoir had 
turned his attention to this subject, and from him I have received 
the following account of his observations. 

" I have long busied myself about the regulation of the drawing olT. 
I have thought, that if it could be rated by some simple, economical, 
mechanical process, the art of making wine would be quite a household 
affair, no matter what the climate, soil, or quality of the grape, or all 
the other accessaries which often make the usual indications swerve 
from their exactness. 

" My idea was to find a measurement of the degrees of fermentation 
from the first sensible movement until the complete vinification. that 
is to say, a scale affected by the first sensible repulsion of sohds fioni 
the fluid, which shows tliat the ferment is begun, until the equally 
sensible retrogression or reaction, showing its decrease has taken 
place ; for it seemed to me that there must be a fixed relative proper- 



108 



tion between the expansion of the fermenting must, and its subsidence ; 
and I thought I could deduce from what I saw, that the drawing off 
should be practised as soon as the film or scum had settled down- 
wards. I therefore marked degrees on a yard-stick, placed upright 
in the middle of the vat, and I watched the ascension and fall ; the 
wine was perfect at the time proposed. But in dry and hot years, 
when the grape is very ripe and contains more fire than sugar, if the 
wine is left until the scum has sunk, it is hard, heady, rough and 
fiery. In rainy years, when the grape is full of water, the wine, at 
that degree, is not perfect ; in seasons that are dry without being too 
hot, seasons generally remarkable for the abundance of sugar in the 
fruit, the moment the retrogression of the head is accomplished, is the 
exact time for drawing off the wine. 

" With the help of these facts, and knowing that the same princi- 
ples, mere chemical combinations, were at work to effect the sinking, 
that accomplished the expulsion and ascent of the chaplet or head, I 
deemed that the time, be it greater or less, required in the ascent and 
in the fall were proportioned to each other, and by that, some lights 
might be given. I therefore tried it, whether, allowing as long an 
interval from the stagnation of the head, to the drawing off, as htid 
occurred between the crushing of the fruit and the first degree of sensible 
ascension, would allow time for the wine to be completed; in cases 
where it was not finished at the settling of the head. The first year 
I was completely successful The next the season had been very 
different; and I was somewhat behind-hand in the wine ; the next 
season, the wine was a little overdone. As my regulator was not 
more than an inch thick, and simply thrust into the vat without being 
firmly fixed, I attributed these different results to some displacing, or 
my own careless inaccuracy. The next season, I took a piece of 
poplar plank, 5 inches broad, two thirds of an inch thick, and nearly 
as long as would reach across the vat. Through the middle of it I 
passed the yard-stick, fastened down ; ajid the plank, being perfectly 
flat and extremely light, would work up and down with perfect facility 
following the swell or decline of the scum. This method was more 
exact, and I have found it of use for three years past. I intend to 
perfect it much more ; by combining the strength of the fluid and the 
heat of the vat with my other calculations, and making the matter so 
clea,r, that the most unlettered farmer, may seize with half an eye, the 
proper minute for drawing off, no matter what the previous or attend- 
ant circumstances " — Such was his statement; but exile and death 
have prevented him from keeping his word. 

To draw off, the tap of the vat is turned and the liquor removed to 



109 



the cask in measures made for the purpose. But the first tiling to 
be done is to remove the scum which has soured by exposure to the 
air, with the utmost precaution, by means of a wooden spaddle. For 
should this film turn under, the whole vat of wine will be good for 
nothing. Wines of peculiar excellence are drawn off by funnels and 
syphons that prevent the open air firom striking the wine, as it does 
in the common method, both when it falls into the measure, and again 
when it is emptied into the cask. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OF THE WINE PRESS. 

As soon as the wine is drawn off, the murk, or pumice, is to be lifted 
out and subjected to the press ; it affords a wine nearly equal to that 
which has flowed freely from the vat. It is distinguished into first, 
second, and third qualities, according to the first, second, and third 
cutting of the murk. The wine produced by the first cut is the most 
lively, that from the third, the tartest, hardest, coarsest, and deepest 
in colour. The residue is kept near Montpellier for the fabrication 
of verdegris ; in other places it is packed down, well sprinkled with 
bran, and dealt out as fodder for cattle ; or is used as a manure for 
vineyards, or food for pigeons, who eat it v/ith a sort of gluttony ; 
others apply water to it, and draw from it beverages slightly vinous and 
tart, that 'go by the name of pricked wines. 

Some make a practice of mingling the vat and press-wines together 
as soon as made, which is wrong ; it is better to keep them apart 
until it is seen whether it be necessary to add the press-wine to the 
other to heighten its strength or colour. Otherwise there is a risk 
of entirely depriving the wine from the vat of all its perfume and 
delicacy ; and also to render it hard, dull, thick, and indigestible ; 
press-wines alway being tart, harsh, and dark coloured. 

When the murk is to be used for vinegar, only one turn is given 
to the press. 

There are many sorts of presses ; of the two most in use, one requires 
from ten to twelve men, breaks often and is slow ; the other, every 
way less costly, requires but four men and has a greater effect than 
the former. But both of them cut the murk at each turn, which 
gives the harsh taste of the stem to the wine. A third press, called 
the single or double box-press (Ic pressoir a coffre simple ou double ;) 
is the best yet invented ; the wine that proceeds from the highest 
pressure is separated from that which flows first, because of inferior 
quality; but there is no cutting of the murk. The press is filled 
seven feet thick with the pumice, which it reduces to 18 inches, 
yielding one fifteenth more wine than is obtained by any other sort 
of press. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



OF THE WIjYE'CELLAK. 

The cellar is all -important for the preservation of the wine. The 
best cellars are such as are dug out under uninhabited dwellings, as 
is seen in the districts most famous for wines ; exposed to the North, 
and 50 or 60 French feet deep, according to the dryness or dampness of 
the soil. A certain constant, but not excessive humidity is necessary ; 
if too moist, the casks rot and are apt to make the wine musty ; if 
too dry, the staves shrink and the wine leaks out. The light should 
enter moderately, by openings at suitable distances ; these windows 
should be protected by narrow pent-houses and closed when it is too 
hot or too cold. The ceiling of the cellar should be solidly vaulted 
and very thick, to prevent the shocks and pressures which it receives 
from being communicated to the casks below. In summer, as in 
winter, it is well to cover the floor above with dry rushes, straw, or 
any such material to prevent either violent heat or cold from extend- 
ing to the cellar. The floor of the cellar should be very smooth and 
beaten hard ; that part of it intended for the bottled wine should be 
sanded. The cellar should be kept clean ; if too damp it should have 
more and larger windows ; if too dry, fewer windows and those made 
smaller. When badly situated it is easy to shelter it from the rays of 
the sun by building small buttresses in front of the windows, or by 
stopping them with a board covered with earth, or sods, which is 
better. 

The casks should be set perfectly horizontal on a stilling 6 or seven 
inches high, made of squared joists ; and be supported with wedge- 
shaped pieces 4 inches long and 3 inches thick, which must be driven 
between the staving and joists quietly and with great care. Neither 
stilling nor casks should touch the wall in any place ; thus fixed they 
are firm, and safe from rotting. If the casks lean forward, the lees are 
carried to the front and stop up the tap ; if they incline backwards 
the evil is worse ; when the cask must be lifted up to let the liquor 
run off, the whole becomes troubled. If perfectly horizontal the lees 
settle in the lowermost part of the side and every drop of the limpid 
wine runs off clear. 

Garden stuff*, green wood, flowers, fruit, &c. must never enter a 
wine-cellar. Sooner or later they are sure to sour the wine, by the 
exhalations that arise from them. 



CHAPTER IX. 



OF THE MAmGEMENT OF THE WINE IK CASKS. 



The wine works in the casks from the first day that it is transferred 
to them. If the ferment in the vat was regular and continued, the 
new commotion will be almost insensible, and vice versa. It is the 
carbonic acid gas which excites this agitation ; it tends incessantly 
to escape, it swells the size of the liquid and makes it froth out at 
the bung. The casks, therefore, should not be entirely filled ; a 
space of two inches should be left and the bung be driven in close 
enough to prevent the air from penetrating ; the spigot-hole beside 
the bung should now and then be opened to allow the gas to escape , 
but this must not be done too often nor too freely, as it risks souring 
the wine. Instead of bunging tight, and opening the spigot-hole some 
vine-dressers cover the bung-hole with folds of cloth covered with a 
coat of sand j others with Vine leaves held down by a piece of tile . 
When this ferment is over, and the liquid sinks back, the casks shonld 
be filled up and bunged tight ; the bung wrapped with hemp or tow, 
or old linen, which must be fresh and clean, as a film gathers on the 
bung that may be hurtful to the wine. 

In some districts they fill up every day during the first month, every 
four days the second month, and after that every eight days until 
the racking oflf. This is the method used with the Hermitage wines, 
around Bordeaux ; they fill up after the first week ; a month after they 
bung the casks lightly, and fill up every week, gradually tightening 
the bung. In other places they fill up regularly every ten days during 
the first months, then once a month until the racking off. And in some 
they do it every two months, if the cellars are passably dry, and every 
three months if they are damp. The filling-up should be done in co«l 
dry weather, and the wine employed never be of a quality inferior to 
that in the cask. The cellar should be visited at least once a day, so 
as to remedy on the spot any accident that may have taken place, 
through wormeaten spots in the staves, by the diaking ot the casks in 



113 



rolfiiig theni iato the cellar ', by mould on tlie hoops or he^cliii^ from 
the damp ; or from the shrinking of the staves. The wine also should 
be tasted from time to time, to observe what alterations have occur- 
ed, that^they may be remedied promptly. 

When the filling-up is neglected, a white mould collects oji the 
surface of the wine. Tlue must be attended to immediately, as the 
acid fermentation commences by this symptom. The air in the space 
must be first forced out ; to this elFect the nozle of a bellows is 
introduced at the bung and the air drawn in from every side. A 
lighted match is then put in, the bung closed, and the match alloAV- 
ed to burn ; after this the cask must be entirely filled up, and then, 
several smart raps on it expel the bubbles of air that are lodged iu 
crevices and drive the mould towards the bung-hole ; in a few minutes 
a slight jolt must be given to the cask with the knees, which will make 
the wine at the bung run over a little, when, by blowing upon it, the 
film is carried down ; the filling-up must be repeated, and this pro- 
cess tried again, until not a vestige of the mould is perceived. 

The wine also works in a singular manner when the Vine begins 
to shoot, at the time of flowering, and when the grape turns. Buffon 
attributes all this working and all the changes of the juice of the 
grape from the state of must to that of vinegar, to the action of organic 
molecules. According to Fabbrord and the remarks in confirmation of 
his by Astier of Toulouse, these phenomena of vegeto-animal matter 
are only remarked when the organic molecules have not been separa- 
ted from the wine by a sufiicient quantity of alcohol. " Then," says 
Astier, " as these elements of organization cannot remain idle whiia 
the Vine is busy with growth, and as, in the vat or cask they cannot 
produce leaves, flowers, and fruit, they will produce somethin op anima- 
ted, vintage gnats, wine-mould, or the microscopic eels of vinegar. 
These phenomena" he adds, "prove that life, though unapparent in 
the whole, subists in the parts, though detached and separated, and 
preserves in spite of death, a certain relation \7ith the general lif^s 
of the species to which the individual belongs." 

These phenomena may be prevented by the use of anti-fermentative 
substances, such as sulphuric acid, sulphate of lime, mercurial oxyds, 
alcohol, garlic, camphor, the oold of ice, boiling heat. The manner 
of using all these various means shall be spoken of hereafter. 

When the fluid seeras at rest, though turbid, it is complete. The 
turbidness is caused by the foreign substances in suspension, which, 
with time and quiet, sink to the bottom; when the pulp and murk, 
colouring matter and tartar, form the lees. The tartar separates par^ 
t-ially and cr3''stailize^ on the sides of the cji.sks, 
35 



CHAPTER X. 



OF P^^CKING. 



But tlie lees, once precipitated, may mingle auevr, and muddy the 
clarified wine ; or even produce a new fermentation and injure the 
quality. For this reason the wine must be removed from the lees. 
Some rack the wine in December, if it is well cleared, and they 
wish to transport it ; others do it only once a year in February or 
March. In some places the wine requires to be racked twice during 
the first year, once at the beginning of spring and a second time at 
the end of September, or towards the end of Decembei during sharp, 
clear frost, and about the middle of May. Wines that are mild 
should be racked soonest, with harsh, hard wines it should be de- 
layed longer. Rich high-flavoured wines may lie on the lees three 
and four years, and only be shifted every two years, without injury. 
Such are the red wines of the Marne river, and especially from the 
St. Thierry enclosure near R-heims. But in general, wines should 
be removed from the coarse lees before the spring equinox. There 
are. however, cases, in which the lees and wine are better left toge- 
ther than separated, for the sake of prolonging the fermentation and 
ripening the wine ; but it must be done with great watchfulness ; 
the moment the wine shows a tendency to pass to the acid degree of 
fermentation, it must be racked without delay and transported into 
a colder place it it is turbid, it should be fined before racking. The 
most suitable time for the operation is fine, clear weather, especially 
as regards the first racking. It should never be attempted while the 
Vine is in blossom ; at that time the wine undergoes an accelerated 
internal ferment, and should be kept as quiet as possible. 

For racking, the head of the cask must be pierced about three fin- 
ger's breadths from the chine ; this is done with a tap-augur large 
enough to make the opening at once ; as soon as a drop of the liquor 
shows, it has pierced enough ; the gunblet is withdrawn and the cock 
put in its place ; the faucet must be turned just so far that the wine 
will flow through the channel without the air disturbing the surface 
of the liquid as it passes. As soon as the cock is fixed, the bung must 
be gradu^allV lifted as gently as possible, to give entrance to tlie extet- 



115 



nai air. When it has done running, the cask is raised by levers, and 
care must be taken to be sure that the raising lias not made the wine 
turbid f if it is troubled it must not be mixed with the clear wine. This 
is the most general way of racking, and the most expeditious. But 
it is not a good method for wines that have a delicate bouquet, be- 
cause they are so much exposed to the air when running hom the 
tap, and when pouring into the funnel. 

At Beaune (Cote-d'Or) the wines of which have the reputation of 
being the most relishing of all the wines of old Burgundy, they rack 
with copper taps, to which a leathern pipe is attached terminated by 
a wooden tube, that is slightly conical. The cask to be filled is laid 
on the side, and pierced on the topmost part with some small gim- 
blet-holes ; when it is filled, the holes are stepped and it is rolled over 
on the bung. 

At Condrieu (Rhone) they rack the wine the week afler it is made, 
and before the end of the month, they fine it, to divest it of clammi- 
ness ; every fortnight or twenty days they rack it over for the space 
of a month or two ; by this means they give it that perfectly limpid 
clearness for which it is so remarkable. Each time it is thus racked, 
the cask is sulphured strongly, even more than for red wines ; this 
increases the body of the wine. This white wine lasts from fifteen 
to twenty years ; as it grows old it acquires the colour and taste of 
Malaga; its repute has been at its present height for several centu- 
ries. It is thought that the species of the grape was brought from 
Palmatia ; it is known by the name of vionnier. Tlie Hermitage 
wine owes its origin to the vineyards of Condrieu. 

If the casks have to be moved three or four months after racking, 
it is advisable to rack them anew first, lest the deposit they have 
made should rise and cloud the wine, and change the taste. 

* It is related that an inhabitant of Condrieu having turned hermit, he built hiroseli" 
a cell on an uncultivated sterile mountain, in the neighbourhood of Tain, and employed 
his leisure hours in breaking to pieces the recks around his dwelling-, Having pUnled 
slips from Condrieu they succeeded perfectly. His example excited emulation, and 
valuable vineyards soon covered the stony sides of the mounlain. from which the Her- 
jailage wines are stiU raised. 



CHAPTER XI. 



OF FLma 



Wincg, whicli are not clear after racking, contain a sediment of such 
divisibility, that it can only be removed by fining, and a secondracking. 

The most usual substances employed for this purpose, are isinglass 
and whites of eggs. 

Isinglass must be unrolled, shred thin, and soaked in wine. It swells, 
softens, and then becomes a viscous jelly, which must be poured into 
the cask. The wine should be well beaten with a whisk, and allowed 
to rest. The quantity of isinglass used, is about a half ounce to every 
250 or 300 gallons of wane. 

Whites of eggs are preferred in the South to fish-glue } they arc 
well beaten with wine, and poured into the cask, which is then stirred 
either with a whisk, made of split wood, or made of tufts of horse 
hair fixed to an iron handle. The wijie is left to rest for ten days or 
a fortnight, and then racked in a North wind. From six to ten eggs 
are required for every 25 gallons of wine, according to the paleness or 
depth of the colour. Some farmers make use of gum arable in pow- 
der; others of hartshorn shavings, calcined ground flints, starch, rice, 
milk, beech-wood Chips boiled in water, and sun or oven-dried. But, 
none of these substances produce as well or as quickly the results 
obtained by fish-glue or whites of eggs. 

There is a reddish-brown powder which is sold at a very high price, 
for the clarifying of wines; but it is nothing more than dried blood. 
It only acts through the albumen contained in blood ; and a couple 
of eggs would have the same efficacy, without altering the bouquet of 
the fine %vines, by the fetid, glue-like odour of the dissolved dried 
blood. The gelatine of bones is still worse than blood. Common 
and new wines lose a portion of their rawness by fining ; good wines 
require more subtilty of relish and appearance. 



/ 



CHAPTER XII, 



OF THE SULPHURmG OR STUMMIJVG OF WimS, 

This process is the impregnation of the wine with sulphureous va- 
poursjby burning over it sulphur matches. The matches are simple 
or compound. The simple are made of a slip of cloth or muslin, 6 or 
7^inches long, and I2 inches in breadth, that is soaked in melted sul- 
phur. Compound matches are prepared by adding aromatics to the 
sulphur, such as pounded cloves, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, or Flo- 
rentine orris root ; or nips of thyme, lavender, or marjoram ; or orange- 
flowers, &c. Those fabricated at Strasburg and which are rolled in 
violet-leaves, are esteemed the most. 

The match is lighted, and suspended by an iron wire in at the 
bung-hole, which is then closed tight, and the match allowed to burn. 
While it is burning, the internal air escapes with a hissing sound from 
every fissure ; these should be instantly stopped with any coarse luting 
at hand. Stumming discolours the wine and renders it turbid, but 
it soon recovers. Wines that have been sulphured keep longer, but 
red wines are faded by it, consequently, sometimes diminished in va- 
lue. Owing to this, of late years, the foUoAving plan has been adopted. 
A small quantity of brandy is poured into the cask, and set on fire 
by a burning string, and while it is burning, the hand is held over 
the bunghole without closing it entirely. This is now the prevailing 
custom in all the department of Herault. 

In Marseillan, and wherever the Picardan wines are made, a sort 
of syrup is prepared from white grapes and called stum, which is 
used in preference to sulphuring. It is prepared in the following 
manner : as soon as the juice of the grapes flows from the press, it is 
stoutly stummed, to prevent its fermenting, and is poured into casks 
one fourth filled. Several matches are burned over the liquor, and the 
cask bunged and repeatedly shaken, until, when the bung is opened, 
no gas escapes by the opening. More must is then poured in and 
matches burned again, and the process of shaking repeated ; this is 
continued, until at last the cask is filled. Must prepared in this 
maimer, never ferments ; it has a sweetish taste, a strong smell of 
sulphur, and if a proportionate quantity of high proof alcohol is added 
to it, it makes a very hot cordial wine, called Calabrian wine ; and is 
employed fo give strength or sweetness to wines that are tart or poor 



CHAPTER XIII. 



OF BOTTLIKG. 



So long as the wine remains in the cask, it is slowly making alter- 
ations for the better. There are some very superior , generous wines 
that will stand the cask for three or four years, such as those of the 
Clos Saint- Thierry, which unite the hue and the bouquet of Burgun- 
dy, to the lightness and liveliness of Champagne ; such also are those 
of the Clos- Vougeot ; but it is only in well corked bottles that wine 
acquires all the finish of its properties. The more spirit, nerve or 
raciness, and body that a wine has, the better it is for it to be bottled } 
but light, delicate, tender wines do not bear it so well. Bottling will 
not bear neghgence ; very good crops now and then are so injured 
by bad bottling as not to be recognizable. It should be done 13 months 
after the vintage ; the selection of bottles and corks, and the prepara- 
tion of the pitch or wax to cover the cork should not be entrusted out 
of the hands of the master. 

Bottles carelessly tempered, or of poor glass, change the wine ; 
those that have been used are apt to take a bad taste from the cellar; 
especially if they have been stowed away standing, and it is very hard 
to clean them ; if not thoroughly cleansed they are sure to spoil the 
wine. If not of regular sizes and dimensions, it is hard to arrange 
them smoothly, and they are very subject to break in the pile. That 
the bottles be of equal sizes, and from some manufactory of reputa- 
tion, is the first requisite. The second is to rinse them twenty-four 
hours before they are used, not with duck shot as some recommend, 
which is a dangerous practice, but with gravel-stones, or a piece of 
steel chain. They must be stood to drain on drilled boards ; and if they 
are to be used for any weak wines, a little brandy should be poured 
in them first ; this rinsing with brandy is not to be practised if they 
are to hold fiine wines, the bouquet of which would be destroyed by 
the brandy. 

Every bottle with a flaw, or coat of tartar, or the slightest musty 
smell, should be rejected without fail. Bottles for Champagne should 
be of very thick glass, well annealed, and from some known glass- 
works, or the wine is risked \yith a dead certainty of loss. 



119 



(^iLality of the Corks, 

They sliould be round, new, and very sound; round, that they may 
fill up the neck compactly ; new, to give no ill taste to the wine ; and 
very sound to prevent breaking as much as possible. They should 
be elastic ; a stiff cork will break the neck of the bottle, or else does 
not fit well. In France there is a trade carried on in old corks by 
houses that consume a great number ; they are re-peeled and offered 
for Bale, but may be known by the dirty brown colour of the pores ; the 
ne\v cork is always of a reddish brown in the streaks. These fur- 
bished corks are only fit for bottles that are to be used immediateh' 
The corks are driven in with a wooden mallet. 

0/ Securing the Corks. 

Unless the corks are waxed, if kept any time, the wood-lice gnaw 
them, or they rot from the damp, and the liquor leaks out. The best 
wax is made of the following articles and in the following proportions 
for 300 bottles :~21bs. rosin and Mb. of Burgundy pitch, ilb. of yellow- 
bees wax, and a small sprinkling of red mastic, melted together over 
the fire, and taken off as soon as the scum rises, properly stirred and 
incorporated, and put back on the fire to melt for use. Tallow may 
be substituted for bees wax, but in smaller quantity ; too much tal- 
low and the wax will not harden ; too little wax or tallow, or none, 
and it will not cleave. The neck of the corked bottle is plunged into 
this liquid for about two thirds of an inch, and then turned up to harden. 

Of Piling the Bottles. 

The bottles must be laid, so that the deposit may fall on ono 
side of the bottle : and the cork be kept constantly moist. The 
ground should be perfectly level and well sanded. The bottles are 
ranged side by side, with some scantling under the necks to sup- 
port them ; a layer of sand an inch or an inch and a quarter deep 
must be strewn over the first range of bottles before a second can 
be piled upon them ; and so on with every range. The piles are 
made a yard high ; they may be laid in the middle of the cellar if with 
the .precaution adopted in the department of Marne, of interposing a 
thin scantling or frame work of lathes, supported at the ends. The 
upright bits to which the horizontal pieces are fastened, sustain tlie 
n'ia,ss and give strength to the pile. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



OF THE MIXTURE OF WINES. 



Do not seek to make artificial wines ; it is a loss of time and money: 
you cannot imitate nature, or deceive any connoisseur, and most 
often you will have to reproach yourself with having been the origin 
of many a dyspepsia, and poisoned old men and invalids. Throw 
av/ay your recipes for Spanish and Rhenish wines, artificial wines 
are a deception that may induce immedicable injuries in the sys- 
tems of their drinkers. 

All wines that depend for their credit on their bouquet, should be 
preserved pure. But it is the vinedresser's interest to mingle the 
slightly altered or middling wines with those that are more generous \ 
it should be a point of honor, however, to acknowledge mixed wines, 
and not pass them off for those of a known growth or season. 

Sometimes a pure wine has an earthy taste, or a tartness that strikes 
the palate ; or its colour is so deep as to be disagreeable ; the addition 
of an inferior white wine, well fermented, and rich of the taste of the 
fruit, will convert it into an excellent liquor. 

Wines of a bad season may be mixed with those of a good year. If 
you have white wines disposed to mottle and turn yellow, they may 
be mixed with very high-colored red wines ; making them more pleas- 
ant to the taste, and apparently older. 

In the neighbourhood of Bourdeaux they correct the slight ronghnes? 
of their wines by mixing them before they are racked, with Hermitage 
wines from the department de la Drome, with those of Cahors, (Lot,) 
and those of the best vine-grounds of Gard, Herault &e. A very lively 
fermentation begins between them, and terminates in the complete 
fusion of both into one, under the name of Medoc. 

I should by the way observe, that all Hermitage wines that have 
a decided flavour of raspberry are fraudulent wines ; some indeed have 
said that the red Hermitage has the bouquet of the raspberry ; but this 
is erroneous, and has given rise to a tliousa.ud devices and impasitious. 



Ill general, all the wines of Roquemaure ; of Saint-Giles-les- 
Boucheries ; of Bagnols, (Gard,) of Saint-Georges; of Orques; of 
Verargues; of Saint-Christol ; of Saint-Drczery ; of Saint-Genies ; 
of Castries ; (Herault,) of Cunac ; of Casaignet ; of Saint-Juery ; 
of Saint-Amarans ; of Gaillac. (Tarn) of Narbonne ; (I'Aube) ; those 
of Rivesaltes, Baixas, Corneilla de la Ribera, of Saint- Jean Lasseille ; 
of BanyuIs-des-Aspres ; of Argeles and of Sorrede (Eastern Pyren- 
nees,) are all employed, most usually, to add body, colourj or taste to 
the wines of other department:^. 



16 



(JHAPTER XV. 



OF THE D£G£.^ERJTIOJ\:S Aj\D ALTEILiTlOSS OF WhXE 



Though prepared with many cares, the best wiiies are subject to 
altfiTations and changes. The duration of wines depends on the temper- 
ature of the season, the stock, the grape, the mode of cultivation, the 
wine-making and the cellar. The Marne-river wines last at most 
from 6 to 12 years ; the Rhenish wines outlive a century ; the wines of 
the South will count as mr^ny as 20 or 30 years. White wines seldom 
can bear the cask more than two years, and the bottle four or five \ 
the red are more lasting. 

The most frequent changes of the wine are from Roping, Acidity. 
Bitterness, Turbidness, Pricking, Mustiness, Freezing, and Seairaen'-. 

1. Of Roping. 

Ropiiig is a milky alteration undergone by wines produced from 
crops in a rainy season ; when the fermentation has been weak ; they 
lose their natural fluidity and become as viscid as oil. White wines 
are but slightly subject to this, unless very weak and meagre ; those 
that have scarcely any spirit will rope even when well corked, but 
recover and become limpid of themselves. This recovery generally 
takes place about the first or second succeeding season. The whitish 
sediment that was the first characteristic, becomes brown, dry and 
deposited in scales, restoring its former transparence to the wine. It 
is not, however, prudent, always to wait for this moment ; cream of tar- 
tar should be resorted to, or, as the chymists term it, in wordy style, 
sur-deuto-tartrate of potass is necessary to cure the roping. For a 
barrel containing 75 gallons take two gallons of wine, whether ropy or 
good wine the effect is the same, and heat this quantity to boiling 
heat ; then throw into it from 6 to 12 ounces of very pure cream of 
tartar, dissolved with its weight of sugar j pour the whole boiling hot into 
the cask, wllich must be bilnged and luted air-tight, then shaken and 



i23 



roilad for five oy six mmutes. If the heads of tlie casks appear strain- 
ed during this operation, a spigot hole must be instantly made near 
the bung, but only a very slight portion of the gas must be permitted 
to escape ; it is the carbonic acid gas which destroys the vegeto-ani- 
mal principle which is the cause of ropiness. Two days after, the wine 
must be fined ; but instead of whisiiing with the bung open, the cask 
must be only rolled and then left to rest. Five days after, the wine 
will be found Umpid, clear, clean, free from roping ; it must then be 
racked off*. Bottled wine that needs clearing, must be poured into a 
cask and proceeded with in the same manner. 

There are other remedies pursued, such as drawing the vcine over 
fresh lees ; fining and stumming with care ; raising the tempera- 
ture of the air ; bringing the bottles into the open air ; fining with is- 
inglass and whites of eggs together ; all these things may be repeat- 
ed over several times, if need be, taking care to pour the wine from 
a considerable height, that by its agitation it may become imbued 
with atmospheric air. But to tell the truth, the wine is never as 
good, cured by these prompt measures, as when it f:lowlr re-esta- 
blishes itself 

2. Acld'itij. 

All wines may sour, but weak ones are most liable to turn acid. 
This change ia very common at the rise of the sap,, or during the flower- 
ing ; it must be remedied in the very onset, as it is a constantly in- 
creasing fault. The wine must be drawn oflT into a cask that has been 
highly impregnated with sulphur from burning matches ; this cask 
must be placed in a colder spot than tnat where the wine was stored 
previously, and must be filled-up faithfully, as is done with the new 
wine. Every vintner has his own r^ci^es. One boasts that one fifth 
of skimmed milk added to the cask will cure it ; another that honey or 
barley-sugar melted in the wine is the thing ; another commands the 
wine to be saturated with acetate of magnesia j another that it be fined 
with bone-glue. But the best means is to pass the wine, during 
the vintage, through the vat, after having drawn off the new v.nne. 
This will restore it to its taste, but it must be consumed as fast as 
possible ; because it is very sure to return to its previous state during 
the next shooting of the Vines. 

If the acidity has arrived at the second degree of fermentation, 
nothing can be done ; and it must bo converted into vinegar. If the 
atridity is onW on the surfnre there is a way of rf^meclying, which -5 = 



124 



this ; the cask must be quietly unbunged, and the canula or funnel in- 
vented by M. Horpin plunged pretty deep into the cask ; good wine 
being poured through this instrument, the spoiled wine on the top 
runs over at the bung, without mingling with tlie wine of the cask, 
or that used in filling up. 

n. Of Bitterness. 

This complaint generally befals only the best wines, and is one 
of^ the results of age. The wines of L'Yonne, a part of Cote'd'Or, 
and of Saone and Loire, which are very subject to it, have, when 
mature, a slight undertaste of acerbity ; they are often limpid while 
labouring under this alteration. If they are in casks they may be re- 
stored by passing them over new lees, or renewing them with fresh 
wine of the same vineyard ; but they have lost their bouquet, and are 
perpetually on the brink of relapsing. |They must be drawn off and 
employed immediately, or else made into brandy. A cask may be fined 
with the whites of four fresh eggs, and left to settle a month or two ; 
and then, if perfectly clear, be racked off into afresh well-sulphured 
vessel. 

If the wine is bottled, it may be hoped that it will re-establish itself 
at the end of two or three years, if not touched or disturbed. The 
wine has then lost in its bouquet, and colour, but gained in finish and 
delicacy ; is very agreeable to drink and cordial to the stomach. It must 
be drawn oflf before it is moved abroad ; some Vine-growers accele- 
rate the recovery of the bottled wine by carefully drawing it oflf when« 
ever they perceive that it has deposited a sediment, 

4. Loss fif Colmir, or Turbidness. 

All wines as they grow old become paler and are the better for it ; 
but the loss of colour which is an injury, renders the wine opake ; 
red wines become black, and white wines take a livid 'yellow hue, and 
the taste becomes very disagreeable ; they are then called scorched. 

The first thing to be done is to remove the bung and air the wine ; 
then rack it off into a well-sulphured cask, place it in a very cool cel- 
lar, there rack it anew and fine it. If these means do not suffice, 
there must be a mixture tried of stout and bland wines, old and new 
wines ; but only those must be used that are of the same vineyard. 
If none such are on hand, recourse may be had to those already 



125 



mentioned as used for mixing ; but the new should not be under teu 
months, and if possible should be a year old. If wines of four or five 
months old are added to those of three or four years, not to say older, 
their principles are not in harmony, and the evil ferment will redouble 
instead of bemg allayed. 

Though some bottled wine^ attacked by this|change, has been known 
to recover by itself, it would be very unsafe to risk the loss of all the 
wine in expectation of such a fortunate circumstance. It is best 
to stum, fine, and rack. 



5. Of Pricking. 

This seems to be occasioned by the contact of the external air ; and 
seldom comes from any other cause than negligent bimging up. The 
wine is impoverished, grows pricked, and loses its bouquet ; wliite 
filaments are seen in it, a proof of the alteration of the vegeto-ani- 
mal principle. At first it may "be easily relieved, especially if the 
wine has body and strength : it must be racked off into an empty cask 
which has lately held good wine, and which has been thorough- 
ly sulphured ; the cask must be filled up and luted ; a fortnight after, 
the wine must be fined, racked, and bottled. 

But if the taste is very sharp, one third or more of newer, strong, 
and more alcohohc wine must be added ; or what is preferable, 15 or 
20 gallons of fresh lees to a cask containing 240 bottles ; nux it up well 
■with the altered wine once a day at noon for three or four days ; then 
let it rest a month, rack it ofi" and bottle it. If the accident happens 
during the vintage it would be well to pass the altered wine over 
the murk. 

It is almost needless to add that by fresh lees is meant the lees 
from which new wine is racked, and that there may be substituted 
for it, for some wines, either brandy or alcohol in certain proportions. 
But the drugs in recipes for this purpose, such as salts of saturn, 
ceruse, litharge — are to be avoided ; they are preparations of lead and 
all poisonous. 

One vine-grower has saved his wines from pricking by watering the 
outsides of the casks, during the season that the products of the 
Vine are disquieted by an internal ferment, with cold weli-water or 
even applying ice. The cold promptly arrested the elementary fer- 
mentation, and prevented its developement 



12G 



6. Of Mustiness. 

Many causes may give rise to this serious accident. An ill-con- 
ditioned cask, a rotten egg used in the fining, an immense quantity 
of insects crushed with the fruit, or spoiled grapes that have got into 
the vat, will give the best wine a musty taste, and take away its 
bouquet. 

Racking off into a well-conditioned, sulphured cask, and throwing 
in a handful of cracked peach-pits, shells and kernels both, sometimes 
remedies the evil when taken at the commencement. Some ad- 
vise that beech-wood charcoal should be put into the cask ; others 
to cut dead ripe medlars into quarters, string them and let them ma- 
Hcerate in the wine for a month ; or to take a slice of toasted bread or 
a handful of toasted wheat, put it in a bag and hang it in at the bung, 
for three or four days. But if the alteration is decisive, it is useless to 
deceive yourself; for it will be next to impossible to re-establish the 
wine, even by a mixture with other wines. It even makes a bad 
brandy, and the vinegar from it is hardly passable. 



7. Of Freezing. 

h 

When the wine, as will sometimes happen in a cellar not suffi- 
ciently tight, or during transportation in winter, is caught by the frost, 
it must be immediately racked off, carefully avoiding to break or 
disturb the ice, and so bring it away with the liquor. This ice will 
make the wme weak and flat ; though the water of which it is com- 
posed was one of the constituent parts of the wine, yet, by freezing 
it has been rendered insipid and raw. But with due precaution, 
though there will be a loss in quantity, the wine will be sensibly bet- 
tered, when separated from the aqueous part which disposes light 
wines to sour ; the liquor is more alcoholic, and if new, loses much of 
its harshness. For this reason many vine-growers expsose their casks 
to hard frost. 

But if the vessels are overlooked and a thaw should strike them, the 
\ consequence is that the liquor is turbid, pale, and sometimes of a hvid 
colour. This is remedied in part by racking into sulphured barrels, 
and adding a little more than a gill of alcohol to every cask eontaining 
nOb ot.tles. then bunging air-tight : und if the wine is settled in a few 



1-27 



iiays, linuig and bottling it. If it is stiii too weak, it iiiusst be 
heightened by mingling with it a stronger wine. 

8. Of Sediment. 

As they acquire age, and according to the crops and seasons wmca 
have produced them, some wines are subject to form setthngs, of a na- 
ture different from the lees. These are of two kinds ; the one become:* 
a mass at the bottom of the vessel, or coats the sides ; the other, 
gpecifically hghter, keeps suspended in the liquor. 

This sediment has the appearance of litharge, and to discover its nl-> 
ture the following test is used. Dry it and throw it on live coals, if it 
burns with a thick smoke and the smell of burning tartar, keep 
np the heat and it 4^111 leave a small white residuum, which is simply 
potass ; if the presence of litharge is suspected, a few grains of flower 
of Bulplmr thrown into a tumbler of the wine will immediately make 
it known by a heavy black precipitate. 

' Tartar precipitates in the form of scaly crystals ia almost all wines, 
even the best ; in fat oily wines it looks like a muddy sand, so also 
in mixed wines that have not equally fermented. Tartar gives no ill 
taste and but slightly affects the limpidity of the liquor ; it is even 
thought that it makes it neater, less subject to alterations, and more fit 
for keeping. Bottled wine should never be changed unless for im- 
mediate drinking ; except where the wine is to undergo transporta* 
tion ; in that case it must be put into new bottles, because the moving 
would shake up the old sediment and injure the taste and traaspa^ 
rency perhaps without remedy. 

This pouring off from one bottle to another requires patience and 
address ; care must be taken to^ keep that side of the bottle down- 
warks which has always been the lowermost, and the pouring must be 
done slowly, and with a firm hand, to the last spoonful, which must 
not be allowed to enter' the new bottle. 

A funnel to facilitate this operation and to prevent waste, has been 
invented by M. A. Jullien, author of several works on rural economy. 
He names it Cannelle aerifere ; and its construction leaves nothing 
to be desired. 

Red wines cast a heavier sediment than white wines. Those, the 
sediment of which is so hght that it mixes with the liquor the mo- 
ment the bottle is moved, cannot be poured off clear ; Such for 
stance are tlie sparkling wines. 



BOOK FOURTH. 



OF BRAXDIES. 

Wine as soon us well-termented, with the whole saccharine muci- 
lage transformed into spirit, is convertible by distillation into v/hat 
is termed brandy. I shall touch upon the process merely to lay before 
the farmer and vine-grower, the most simple, easy and expeditious 
means of distilling in the small way, which is often a highly advan- 
tageous family resource to those who cultivate vineyards. I shall con- 
fine myself to the strictly necessary directions, Isaving the distiller on 
a large scale to recur to the professional works on that subject. 

The process is so entirely of modern date, that there is not on re- 
cord a single fact of its being known or practised before the thirteenth 
century, even by the Arabians so well acquainted with the distil- 
lation of perfumes and essences. It is generally conceded that the 
invention is due to Arnaud dc Villeneuve of Lyons. It was not 
brought to perfection till so late as 1801, when, for the first, an econom- 
ical and complete method was introduced by Edouard Adams of Nismes. 
Happening to be present at a chymical lecture where Woulf's ap- 
paratus was exhibited and discussed, he, though a mere manipula- 
tor, was struck with the idea of a new still for wines, and succeeded 
to arrange one; by which, with one heatmg, the whole spirit of the 
Virine might be drawn over, and the brandy be not only equal to 
Dutch proof, but to 35, 36, and 37 degrees, proof.* The only im- 
provement of which Adams' method was susceptible has been made 
by Isaac Berard, and the art of distilling owes to them both the high- 
est gratitude. 

* These are distiller's terras for such spirit as stands at 2'jo. in the areometer of 
Ctirtier; 2nd. such as stands at 34o. of the areometer, and was drawn over by the I2'ii 
rectification in the old method ^ 3rd. siich as was produced by (he 13lh rectification, and 
stood at 36o of the areometer. 



CHAPTER 1. 



SELECTION OF JVIAES. 

Brandy cun he obtained from all wiues, but in very difterent propor- 
tions and qualities ; the heaviest wine gives the most and the richest. 
The wines of the South yield the best brandy ; one very rich wine of the 
department of Drome gives one third of its bulk in brandy ; wines of 
Hcrault yield one fourth; of la Gironde, one fifth ; and of la Cote- 
d'Or, only one eighth. Further north the product is still less. 

The sweeter the wine the more excellent the brandy; and from 
old wines it is better than from new. Common coarse wines fur- 
nish it plentifully, but rather weak, and very subject to have an em- 
pyreumatie flavour. Wine on the turn will yield a large quantity, 
but of inferior quality, and containing much malic acid. From wino 
high-charged with tartar the brandy is still poorer. Brandy fi'om 
wines made of green grapes, or grapes gathered in cold and rainy 
weather, is inferior and scanty. Austere wines yield an abundance 
before the souring is complete, but after that, it is of a very poor quality. 

White wines are generally preferred to red for distilling, not be- 
cause they produce more brandy, but because they are cheaper, and 
the liquor of a milder and pleasanter taste. The white grapes of the left 
bank of the Charente, of the environs of Rochelle, of Saint Jean d'An- 
gely, of Surgeres, of la Tremblade, of the isles of Oleron and Re, 
especially the white grape called la FoUe-hlancke* m the west of France 
the wine of which is unsavoury but very spirituous, yield the brandies 
?o highly appreciated in commerce under the name of Cognac. 

In Gard and Herault where brandy is made yearly in great quanti^ 
ties, they distil only red wines, and the quality is inferior, generally 
speaking, to that manufactured in the West, both in taste and smell; 
notwithstanding the incontestible superiority of the wine. 

As yet the causes of this difference are not understood ; whether 
owmg to the grape, or the processes employed, or whether owing to 

*It is most rife in Champagne, in the environs of Cognac, Jarnac, 
Rouiliac, Ruffec, andAigre. 

17 



130 



the neighbourhood of the sea and the wrack used for manure. Another 
point on which there is Uttle agreement, is the time at which the 
wine is fittest for distilhng. Some insist that it should be a year 
old, others that it should be distilled immediately after the vintage, 
or at most two months, wliile many keep their wines till March or 
April. These variances are doubtless owing to the nature of the 
wines or the weather of the districts, and may be fairly regarded as 
nothing more than approximative data. 

The only general rules are these ; 1st, that weak wines should be 
put in distillation sooner than strong wines, because more apt to 
sour ; 2nd, rich, racy wines, deep coloured though clear, should have 
time to settle, precipitate, and refine, or the brandy will not be as 
fine flavoured, and w^ill be apt to take the burnt taste ; 3rd, that 
the more perfect the fermentation, the richer the wine is of sugar, 
and the older it is, the better the brandy. These are the principles 
adhered to by vine-growers the most intelligent and successful in their 
brandieS; and therefore merit some consideration. 



CHAPTER If. 



ECONOMICAL METHOD OF DI&TILLATIOX. 

The new machines invented for distilUng are very costly, apt to 
get out of order, and are as much injured by being laid up as by 
being in use ; of course they are only suitable for large establishments. 
The old are imperfect, but cheap ; easily repaix-ed, handled and stow- 
ed away ; but they require a great deal of fuel, and much attendance, 
and therefore reduce the final profits by far too much. Between the 
disadvantages of these two, it is incumbent on small proprietors to 
make a^choice, or else endeavour to obtain a modification of the evils 
of both, a desideratum which seems to have been discovered by Astier 
of Toulouse in his yearly experiments ever since 1808. He is a cor- 
respondent of the Linnean Society, and has modestly preserved an 
anonymous fame ; but his services to chymistry and rural economy 
sway my feelings and make me consider it a duty to betray his name. 

He thus expresses himself — 
"The main point of the new apparatus consists in profiting of the dif- 
ference between the degree of temperature which condenses water 
and that which condenses alcohol, by which the spirit is kept from 
alloy. This Mam has taken advantage of by his oval vases * Berard 
by his cylinder, Baglioni by his cone. The same separation con- 
stantly takes place in any ordinary worm, but as the worm has but 
one beak, the phlegm and spirit afterwards unite, and thus united reach 
the cask. This is a fact of which I am certain; and I do insist that by 
one and the same distillation may be obtained apart from common 
wine, alcohol, Dutch proof-spirit, and simple brandy, all by reject- 
ing the phlegm. 

"As soon as the still is in operation, the steam from the capital, in the 
first turn of the worm is at a temperature of 80o or 100^ Reaumur. 
Here, only water condenses ; and the alcohol in vapour passes into 
the second turn, where it also condenses by the lower temperature. 
If the condensed liquid is drawn off from the upper turn it is mere 
phlegm or water ; while that from the second turn is alcohol or spirit. 
So theory would incline us to believe, and I have found that it is ac- 

*The vessels furthest off from the boiler, through which the 
worm passes ; they are kept full of water during distillation and are 
called condensers. 



132 



tually the case by practice. Having so constructed a worm that I 
could draw off separately tlie products of each of the four turns, I ob- 
tained from a very wesk Toulouse wine seven eighths Dutch proof 
spirit; the same wine by the old method gave only one eighth plain 
brandy. The intercepting of the product at each turn I effected in 
the following manner. Each turn was furnished with a very slender 
lateral pipe, about the thickness of a finger and ending in a faucet and 
tap. A crescent-shaped valve placed just before the opening of the 
pipe into the worm obliges the condensed liquid to trickle into the 
pipe, and a slight elbow above and below the pipe prevents any 
of the steam from running in the same direction. Each of these 
pipes f jliows the main-worm in all its convolutions, comes out of the 
condenser by the same opening ; and is led thence, each to its own 
recipient. The pipe of the upper turn has also a second branch with 
faucet, which lets out the phlegm as soon as condensed, which is 
perfectly worthless. A prover indicates the moment when the feints 
should be separated, according as simple brandy or proof-spirit is 
wanted. These feints are either detained in the boUer or set aside for 
rectification, in all cases necessary for the last spirit which comes 
oter, without which it is not worth the fire that raises it." 

With this simple apparatus, every thing in proportion may be ob- 
tained, that is produced by the most compUcated stills, that is to say, 
plain brandy, Dutch-proof and even thirty-five and thirty-six proof, but 
in small quantities. 

Any one who has a worm of the old construction, may at a small 
expense adapt it for this method ; nothing more is required than 
three or four small pipes arranged as already described, and holes 
made in the worm for the insertion of the pipes. 

Besides producing more spirit, and saving three-fourths out of the 
feints, the worm thus furnished shortens the term of distillation by 
one half, and consequently there is that much of a saving in fuel. It 
took formerly ten hours to work a still, by this method it takes but 
five ; so that, easily, and without night watching, the still may be set 
twice a day. 

Finally, what is still better, by Astier's method, a sour wine may 
be distilled as well as any other, without (so I am assured by many 
correspondents, who have tried it) the lea^ taint being perceptible 
in the brandy. Of course, the spirit is less in quantity, because 
the acidified proportion of the wine renders none ; but whatever is 
obtained, is free from acerbity ; and all the acid separates and flows 
out by the first pipe, which gives an opportunity of turning the ace- 
tous portion to profit. 



CHAPTER III. 



VARIO US SORTS OF BRAND Y. 

In every district where the wine is valuable and the press is not 
forced, the grape-murk is distilled, as in the Marne vineyards, under 
the name of Aixne brandy^ and elsewhere by the name of murk or 
pumice brandy. 

The murk is taken from the wine-press, and after being stirred with 
wooden forks or shovels, is thrown into vats and slightly moistened 
with water. The vats are well covered down with a woollen cloth ; 
and fermentation soon commences. So that the murk may be kept 
moist, though not soaking, a small quantity of soft water at the tem- 
perature of 12° or 15o of Reaumur is added daily; of the quantity habit 
must be the judge ; as soon as the vinous character is perceptible the 
murk is ready for the still, and should be treated with a very slow fire. 

This brandy is inferior, and it is very difficult to preserve it from 
the burnt taste. This latter evil may be prevented either by submit- 
ting the murk to a very heavy press, and distilling only the liquor ; 
or by using the sand-bath, or by raising the pumice from the bottom of 
the boiler by a wicker frame. By these two latter methods pumice 
brandy is in no wise different from the spirit of wine; but the 
quantity is not as great as when distilled in actual contact with 
the fire. 

Some vine-growers put the lees of wine to the still ; this makes 
a still inferior sort ; with a marked acid taste ; and is more difficult 
to rectify than any other kind. 

Almost all the spirits known in commerce by the name of Andaye 
brandies, are counterfeits. The real kind is direct from Andaye, 
(Lower Pyrennees) is renowned for its mildness and fennel odour, 
a flavour peculiar to the wine of those parts. It is imitated with 
old Cognac brandy, to every gallon of which one sixth of syrup is 
added, and one tenth distilled aniseed-water. 

The fenouilleite of the isle of Re is only common brandy distil- 
led over fennel. A handful of bruised fennel is thrown into a boiler 
that holds 60 gallons, or in place of that a large bunch of the fen- 
nel itself gathered in flower, 



CHAPTER IV. 



DIRECTIONS FOR ATTENDING THE STILL.' 

Before pouring the wine into the boiler, it should be so thorough- 
ly rinsed and washed that the last water comes off clean. A negli- 
gence in this point gives rise to two evils ; the one, the formation of a 
crust of tartar, lees and extractive matter, which causes the ruin of the 
boiler, by preventing the immediate contact of the liquid on the metal 
and exposing it to the whole action of the fire ; the other is to give, 
after the still has been several times used, a certain taint of burning to 
the brandy. 

As soon as the boiler is clean, the wine is poured in generally fill- 
ing it three fourths. A sufficient space must be allowed to prevent the 
froth of the boiling liquor from passing over into the worm. Distillers 
know by experience how full they may fill ; they guage with slips of 
wood plunged perpendiculaily into the boiler ; knowing from practice 
the capacity of the boiler and the quantity of wine it can hold with- 
out mconvenience ; but the surest method is to have a pipe with a 
tap at the proper height, and to leave it open when pouring in, and as 
soon as the pipe runs, no more should be poured. Another advantage 
of the pipe is to allow the internal air to escape as fast as expelled 
by the introduction of the wine, and, to enter, when water is poured 
in upon the drawing oflf of the refuse. Chaptal tells of a very large 
boiler that collapsed, and burst like thunder, by the pressure of the 
external air, as the assistants were pouring in cold water while it 
was still hot. 

When the boiler is filled, the next object is to set it in operation ; 
the first thing to be done is to station the vats or tubs for receiving the 
spirit, and the next to lute the capital to the boiler, and the worm 
to the capital. This must be done with care and attention, to pre- 
vent waste. 

After the fire has been set, which must be slow and kept as much as 



*This chapter is a close abstract from Chaptal ; I could have no bet- 
ter resource for such directions. 



135 



possible at tlie same grade, the air begins to rush out from tlie free 
extremity of the worm ; and gradually, the rising steam warms the 
capital, and there trickles from the worm a weak, unsavoury bran- 
dy, which is caught and set aside to be re-distilled or rectified. The 
spirit which succeeds this, is the finest, and is called proof brandy ; 
the quantity of it is increased by a careful attention to the regularity 
of the fire. 

By tasting, trying, &c. it is discovered when this first brandy is fol- 
lowed by a weaker kind containing more water ; the first is set eiside, 
and the second quality is caught by the receiver. The further the 
distillation advances, the more water is contained in the product ; 
finally it reaches that point that the distillation contains no longer any 
spirit ; this is discovered by the taste, and by throwing a few drops 
©f it on the capital, it turns into steam, which burns with a blue flame 
^ on the approach of a lighted candle if it contains spirit ; if not, it 
will not kindle. In the latter case, the fire is immediately put out, and 
the refuse is drawn from the boiler. 

The quantity of proof bi andy is in ratio of the quality of the wine. 
In the department of Charente, for instance, a boiler containing 60 
gallons gives from 23 to 28 quarts proof spirit } that is to say about 
one tenth of its bulk of proof brandy, and a little more, of second- 
proof. In Gard and Herault, from 60 gallons they obtain 12 quarts 
of proof brandy and the same proportion of second-proof. The second- 
proof brandy or feint as it is called, is rectified with a slow fire to 
obtain the alcohol ; sometimes the feint is put in with the next por- 
tion of wine into the still. 

Whatever the brandy is distilled from, whether from the wine, the 
murk, or the lees, it is put for preservation into casks ; there it acts 
upon the wood and acquires a peculiar flavour according as the casks 
are of beech or oak, which is called the smack of the staves; it be- 
comes also yellowish-tinted, which can only be prevented by keep- 
ing it in vessels of glass or metal, a mode too expensive or too ha- 
zardous in case of transportation. 

Brandies put into new barrels draw the sap from the staves, and while 
they deepen in colour, lose a portion of their strength. To prevent dis- 
appointments on its arrival in distant places, if brandy of any parti- 
cular rate of proof has been ordered, it will be necessary to soak 
the casks in bad brandy, or else put up a brandy of a proof a little 
higher than the order. 

With the old still, all the brandies made for sale had a flavour of 
burning, almost inseparable. To this, northern consumers had be- 
•■•ome so accustomed, that for a long time after the new distilling ap- 



136 



paratus was introduced, the mild, smooth, sweet spirit had to be a- 
dulterated with ernpyreuma to obtain any sale. This flavour of burn- 
ing, which in so many cases rendered white brandy unfit for the 
uses of rectified spirit, for instance in the making of cordials, was 
looked on as a sign of strength by the people of the North, whose 
rigidity of fibre requires a rough agent to excite its sensibility. And 
from the same cause, the spirits distilled from malt, acrid, empyreu- 
matic and excoriating, are preferred to the spirits of wine in cold coun- 
tries. 

Before the new apparatus came into use, the higher rates of proof 
in spirits of wine were obtained by rectification or re-distilling. There 
were two modes ; the one re-distilling in the same boiler, never al- 
lowing the heat to exceed 75° of Reaimiur. 

At that degree the spirit rises and the water is simply warmed ; the 
spirits all escape through the worm in steam, and the water remains 
in the boiler ; the highest proof comes first and the succeeding pro- 
duct constantly grows weaker and weaker. By collecting various 
rates of proof in due time, into diflferent receivers and mixing them 
afterwards, any rate can be obtained ; for instance, if the first that 
comes over is 36, the second 35^, and the third 35, you can have 35z by 
mixing them all together. 

The other process was to rectify with the Sand-bath, by the heat 
of boiling water, into which the boiler was plunged ; by this means 
the brandy could never be struck by a degree of heat equal to the dis- 
tillation of water ; and this mode, the surest and safest, was therefore 
the one most preferred. 



CHAPTER V. 



USES OF THE MUBK. 



Press (Vines. — After the crushing', the murk is still soaking- with 
juice ; which is obtained from the murk, by the wine-press, and is near- 
ly as good as that which flows freely. 

Pricked Wine, or Piquette. — The refuse of the vintag'e, consisting 
of grapes not quite ripe, must be crushed, and these with the murk 
from the wine-press, and the addition of a little water heated to ISo of 
Reaumur, and a few ounces of syrup, put to ferment, produce a low 
wine of tolerable strength ; two or three handfulls of young peach 
leaves, a bunch of mignonette in bloom, and a little orris-root must 
be thrown into the vat, to give it a flavour and fragrance. It has a good 
face, though rather pale in colour ; and 13 a delightful beverage to the 
mowers, when labouring in the fields under a hot sun. 

This piquette is liable to sour immediately on exposure to the air ; to , 
make it less apt to turn, some add to it honey, which gives it a body. 
Others throw into the vat tartar or cream of tartar, which makes the 
fermentation stronger and the beverage more spirituous. 

The best piquette or pricked wine, is made from the pumice of the 
white grape ; that from the red grape is not so good. Eight or ten 
days is enough for the fermentation. 

Gravelled ^shes.-Th.& murk, after the piquette is drawn oiF, if burned 
affords potash in considerable quantities; from 3500 pounds of the murk. 
500 pounds of ashes are obtained, and from these the yield is 110 pounds 
of potash. 

Spirit of Wine-lees. — If warm water is added to the murk and the 
whole put into the still, a very fair brandy can, with proper precautions, 
be obtained, as I have already noted, under the head of Various Sorts 
of Brandies. 

Verdigris. — This name is given to that oxyd of copper which is 
formed by the acetic acid of the murk. It is a very important and 
extensive object of manufacture, formerly limited to Montpelier, and 
^dJich employs a great many hands in all the Vine-growing^districts. 

IS 



138 



The sheets of cqj)pct, cut to sizes fitting tlie vessels that are used, 
are covered with the ruurk, which is distributed layer by layer be- 
tween every sheet of copper. Over the whole is poured some low or 
Eoured wine, or acid refuse from the still. As soon as the copper 
is sufficiently oxydized, it is rasped and put up in skins for exportation 
and trade. 

Vinegar. — By a last and very strong pressure, a liquid is extracted 
from the murk which is a superior vinegar. To obtain it, the murk is 
first well aired and exposed until it sours. 

Fodder of Grape Husks. — In general the grape husks are a fine 
nourishment for all herbivorous animals. Given dry, loose and min- 
gled with other substances, the murk is a favorite food of cows, sheep 
and fowls ; the latter, while they feed on it, lay frequently. It is given 
fresh in some places to cows and mules, but improperly ; because, 
when eaten in a moist state it ghortens the lives of those animals ; they 
IsecomTe inebriated and heated ; the milk of the former sours quickly, 
and the latter grow weak and feeble. 

Manure. — The murk makes a fine sort of manure, and does not, like 
all other manures, injure the quality of the wine. It is composted with pi- 
geon dung by the following measures. Daily afler the vintage large bask- 
et-foils are scattered around the pigeon-house ; the stones are greedily 
eaten by the birds, and they grow fat and multiply fast on this food. 
At the end of two months, it is raised, and transported to the hog- 
stye, and laid in a trench that runs the length of the pen and into which 
the sluices from the pen will drain; this trench is to be prepared for the 
murk, and coated at the bottom with a thick layer of soil from the stye. 
Into this trench also is collected the dung of geese, ducks and other 
fowls upon the farm. As the litter of hogs is of a cold and fat nature, 
and the dung of pigeons dry and heating, there results from these and 
the murk, a compost exactly suited for the vine. It is carried to the 
tlie vineyard in the month of February, if the weather is fine ; day- 
laborers are employed to loosen and turn up a little of the earth around 
eaeh stock ; and tvomen or children carrying baskets of this manure, 
throw in a little around each stock, and cover it over lightly with the 
earth. The next rains cause the vegetable salts of this compost to 
penetrate down to the roots ; and the same season the crop bears witness 
to the good effects of this dressing. 

Grape-sced oil. — Some make a business of wasliing out the grape- 
seeds from the murk with water, and drying the seeds, which, on grind- 
ing, yield an oil supejior to nut-oil, and which is used in cookiiig, in 
fanning, and for lamps. This oil, on burning, emits a flame as brilliant 
as olive oil. and wl'th scarcely any perceptible smoke or sme!!. 



139 



It is quite a new thing, even in Italy, where it was first etniployetf. 
During my sojourn in the celebrated Peninsula, I saw simple presses, 
worked by a single hand, and of extraordinary strength which were 
used for this purpose. All my inquiries could discover no earlier date 
for it than 1750, about which time Grape-seed oil was extracted in 
Bergamo ; in 1780 it was made at Rome and around Ancona ; in 1818 
at Naples, Castellamar and Resina. Since 1791, attempts have been 
made to fabricate it in several parts of France, even at Paris, which 
have perfectly succeeded. At Berne in 1781, and in several districts 
of Germany since 1787, the thing has been attempted; but nowhere 
on the great scale as in Italy. It does not with us cover the cost of fa- 
brication, because olive-oil is so excellent and cheap, and the other oils 
of commerce so cheap and abundant, that no competition can hold 
out with them. The Italians beside extract nine per cent, of oil; a 
quantity never as yet obtained in France ; exertions to that effect are 
now under way. 

Fud from the dried Murk. The most usual custom is to lake the 
murk from the press, break it while still compact into large or small 
clods and stack it under a shed to dry : it is then burned in winter, 
like turf or tan. 

Pumice baths. Finally, the healing art places the new murk in the 
list of strengthening articles in the Materia Medica, very active in 
rheumatic pains, old sprains, and weaknesses of the legs and loins in 
consequence of rickets. Its efficacy in consolidating cured fractures 
is also much boasted. It is thus employed : the diseased part is buried 
under a heap of the fresh murk, in a state of fermentation, under 
which it is to be kept for a longer or shorter period of time, according 
to circumstances. It excites very plentiful sweats, which give great 
ease and determine a prompt cure. This is the mode of application 
CdWedpumke baths; it should rather be, ^'M'wzce cntaplasms. 



BOOK FIFTH. 



DOMESTIC USES OF THE VINE CROP. 



The vine, the fruit, and the wine also, contribute to many uses, 
either of importance to commerce, or as additional resources to domes- 
tic economy. Of these I shall now treat, as a necessary complement 
to the preceding part of my labours. But I shall not make mention of 
any other than such recipes as I can warrant, or such uses as long ex- 
perience has sanctioned. 



CHAPTER I. 



USES OF THE LEAVES AKD THE SAP. 

The Leaves. — The leaves of the vine are greedily devoured by ail 
cattle, especially the cow, sheep and hog, which are excessively fond 
of them. They are a great resource during a dearth of fodder. But 
it should not be forgotten that the wood will not ripen without the 
leaves; and that they are a great protection against the frost; as 
well as an essential towards a mature and plentiful crop. They 
should not be plucked; but, as they fall, should be gathered, heaped in 
a dry place, or salted and packed hard in barrels. They may be pack- 
ed alternately with straw or hay, which soaks the taste of the leaves 
and becomes a new delicacy to the cattle. 

In some of the southern departments they actually admit the herds 
or flocks into the vine-yard itself, to browse, as soon as the vintage is 
over. At Alais and Anduse (Gard) they prune off the leaves as soon as 
the grapes are gathered ; this method is preferable, as it preserves the 
stock, and keeps a leaf to the eye that is in want of shelter against 
next year. 

Tears of the Vine.— Few plants are more abundant in sap than 
the vine at the moment of budding. It bleeds extravagantly for the 
slightest wound. The bleeding at the bud does the plant no harm ; it is 
a needful evacuation ; but the sap from a cut or wound at this season 
is often a fatal injury. To this very limpid liquor many healing pro- 
perties are attributed in various country parts. 

To collect it, an empty bottle must be buried in the ground, and a 
stem, the end of it cut, must be bent over, without breaking, and in- 
serted into the neck of the bottle. In a few days the bottle will be 
fiUed.* 



* In Missouri it has been noticed that the tears of the native grape 
are an excellent substitute for gum arabic, and scarcely distinguishable 
from it, in taste or appearance. — Translator, 



CHAPTER IT. 



DOMESTIC USES OF THE VL\E. 



To licep grapes fresh. — There are several ways practised of pre- 
serving the grape fresh for the use of the table ; one is to leave it on 
the stock, first twisting the foot-stalk ; to hang the bunches each in a 
paper bag ; or suspend them in a clean airy room, or spread them out 
in aloft on straw. The sugar of very sweet grapes will preserve them 
dry in this condition for a time; but|they soon mould, especially if they 
have not been slightly dried in a stove, or in the bread-oven, when no 
longer hot enough for baking; and they are certain to fail, unless 
they have been gathered while the sun was shining, and put up in a 
dry place, beyond the reach of the air or light. 

But the following process is simple, and the success certain. Take 
a new cask, dry and strongly hooped; stand it in some spot where 
the temperature is always very nearly equal; cover the bottom of it 
with bran that has been well dried in the oven; and put into it the ripe, 
unblemished, perfect bunches, layer by layer, filling in with the bran, 
before another layer is laid down. When filled, the head must be fasten- 
ed down air-tight. Grapes thus put up will keep so well, that 7 months 
after the vintage they will be unspecked, without mould or foreign 
flavour, even the greyish-white down upon them, the same as if 
fresh that moment from the vine. Kiln-dried spent-ashes are used by 
some instead of bran ; or, as Franklin' recommends, very dry millet 
seed. It was his custom to keep grapes fresh in kegs lined with Chinese 
sheet lead, and filled compactly with millet-seed. The Spaniards 
use saw-dust, dried in the sun ; and the casks are previously painted 
inside with pitch. 

Boxes with rows of wires and hooks to keep the bunches suspended 
and separate, are used for this purpose, the joints plastered with mor- 
tar, and the boxes are then buried in dry ashes or fine sand ; but grapes 
thus put up are nothing equal to those preserved in casks of bran. For 
my own part, I cannot say much in favour of the method above men 
tioned of spent-ashes sifted into the cask, instead of bran, although it 
is a successful one ; before the grapes can be eaten they must be put in- 



143 



to water aiid shaken, or water poured on them to wash oW the parti- 
cles, and the crust here and there formed with the juice; and after all, 
some portions always remain, which is found extremely disagreeable 
in eating. 

To dry Raisins. — This excellent mode of preserving a delicious 
fruit has been in use from time immemorial. The Grecians twisted 
the foot-stalk and left the bunch on the vine until it withered, when 
it was gathered and dried in the shade. Raising, with them, formed 
quite a branch of commerce. 

The small town of Roquevaire, (Bouches-du-Rhone,) having gain- 
ed an estabhshed reputation by its raisins, I shall give the recipe there 
practised. The Calabrians prepare them well also, but far less suc- 
cessfully than the inhabitants of Roquevaire. In that smalltown they 
only dry white grapes. They select the largest, pulpiest kinds, with 
few stones, and thinly scattered on the bunch. These are culled dead- 
ripe. Every berry with the least speck of rot upon it is picked out 
and thrown away. A strong ley is then prepared from wood ashes, 
from 12° to 15° of strength for the salts of potash, ascertained by the 
aerometer. When on the point of boiling over, the bunches are 
plunged in and drawn out as soon as the berries are wrinkled. They 
are next put to drain; after which they are spread on hurdles or reed 
mats, and kept in the sunshine from sunrise to sunset ; during the 
night they are sheltered under a-svnings. Ten fair days are enough to 
dry them ; but if the weather is ramy it takes longer. 

Roquevaire raisins are considered excellent ; they have a slightly 
acidulous, agreeable taste. Calabrian raisins are blackish, which is a 
fault, but they are sweeter than those of Roquevaire. Spanish raisins 
are finer flavoured than either, but are generally prepared with too 
much negligence; they do not keep as well, and are mixed with 
very small dry berries. The sort of Syrian raisins called Damascus, 
and which have a gilded hue, are higUy prized for their exquisite fla- 
vour and property of keepmg without alteration for two seasons. The 
Corinth raisins and currants from Zaate and Lipari, also enjoy great 
reputation ; those of Lipari are often the worse for a little dirt or gra- 
vel; but those of Zante are unexceptionable. They are small, rich, 
with the flavour of violets and but a single seed. They are prepared 
from white and red grapes indiscriminately. 

Any family may prepare its own raisins, from perfectly ripe, handsome 
scrapes; but before exposing them to the heat of the stove or sun, 
they should, positively, be bleached in boihng ley. Many persons tliink 
boiling water suflicieut ; it is not; and the alcaU of the ley, which has a 
^reat effect on fruits fo the North, renders the skin tendet. As if. 



144 



does not penetrate into the fruit it does not injure the acid which is tlie 
charm of the dried grape, without which it is cloying and dull. 

Grape Syrup or Sugar. — ParmenLier has left us quite a complete 
treatise on this subject, which should be consulted by all desirous of 
making the most of grape syrup. 

This liquor is made by taking from the vat, the must of dead-ripe 
white grapes ; if these cannot be had, the juice of black grapes ex- 
pressed on purpose; and depriving it of its acids by mixing with it chalk 
marble-dust, gypsum, or spent-ashes. If it is to be prepared as soon 
as expressed, it need not be sulphured, but stumming is indispensa- 
ble to prevent fermentation, if there is to be a delay of only four and 
twenty hours. It must be sulphured two or three times, and each 
time be poured out to cool very quickly in shallow trays or dishes. 
This syrup does not always need clarifying ; if it should, whites of 
eggs, (in proportion to the quantity,) must be whisked in the liquid be- 
fore it is perfectly boiled. This syrup is an excellent resource to the 
farm-house. 

In small vineyards, the wine of which is not very sugary, or when 
the grapes do not ripen as is desirable, this syrup, added to the vat, cor- 
rects that fault. When not boiled to so concentrated a strength, this 
syrup will, if put to ferment, make very pleasant cordial wines. 

In domestic economy, it is an advantageous substitute for sugar ; 
fine sweetmeats are made with it ; the very best of marmalade, and very 
good brandy-fruits, &c. 

Grape Cordial. — This I have tried myself for many years, and find 
that it is well worth the trouble of making. Take dead-ripe black 
grapes, pick them and bottle them ; the vessels only half filled with the 
fruit, must then be filled with plain brandy, corked, and stood in the 
sun for a fortnight. Afler which they must be emptied into anew, high- 
glazed, clean tureen, and the fruit must be mashed with the hand. The 
vjrhole is then to be squeezed through a thick cloth, which must be 
wetted beforehand with brandy. The liquor thus strained, is returned 
into the bottles, with the addition of a little cinnamon and some peach- 
stones, cracked, and thrown in, shells and all. The bottles are to be 
corked and stood in the sun another fortnight. The liquor must then 
be filtered through blotting paper; and is a delightful drink, very cor- 
dial and stomachic, and becomes the better the longer it is bottled. 



CHAPTER III. 



VARIOUS USES OP THE MUST.. 

Marmalade. — With the must, various excellent marmalades are 
made; that of Montpelier enjoys the highest name ; it is made from 
white grapes, boiled in the must to a clear jelly and scented with Ci- 
tron and cedraty. The marmalade of L'Yonne and Loiret depart- 
ments, though esteemed, is inferior to the former; it is a little move tart 
and mixed with stone and seed fruits. 

The pears used for this purpose, are the Cressane, Ecrgamot. 
the Jargonelle, the Virgouleuse, the winter Bo7i Chretien, the Rus- 
seting, or other firm kinds. Quinces are thought the most suitable 
mixture in marmalades ; apples and plums come next ; and lastly pump- 
kins, the rinds of green mangoes and melons,'and sugar}^ roots, such 
as carrots, parsnips &c. These fruits must be selected very sound, cut 
small, and spread out on fair straw to mellow before used. Table fruit 
is not fit for marmalade ; it is only fruit in an acerb state that suits ; 
that which falls before ripening is put aside for this purpose. The 
fruit must be pared perfectly, and the seeds, stones, and hearts, cut out. 

In the North and South both, two sorts of marmalade are prepared, 
simple and compound. That made at the South, does not require as 
much cooking as that at the North. It contains, all other things be- 
ing equal, less water, tartar and extractive matter, and more sugar. 
Parmentier has described the two modes; and my reader will thank 
me for giving the very words of this amiable and excellent man whose 
whole life was devoted to useful pursuits, and the means of turning to 
advantage every article of rural economy, 

" For the siiuple marmalade of the South, take 6 gallons of must ; 
one half must be put in a preserving pan over a quick fire, and the 
other half be gradually added every time the liquid boils up ; this boil- 
ing liquor must not be lost sight of for a moment, and the scum must 
be removed as fast as it rises ; and it must be strained hot through a 
thick cloth. It must then be put back on the fire, and constantly 
stirred with a wooden spaddle until it isb.oiled to a jelly ; this is fount! 
19 



146 



by dropping a little on a dish, when, if it cools into a jelly, it has boiled 
sufficiently. 

" As for the simple marmalade of the North, when the 6 gallons have 
been skimmed and are reduced by boiling to 4 gallons, the pan is 
taken from the fire and the liquor poured into stone pans, where it is 
left for 48 hours in a cool place. At the end of that time the sur- 
face is covered with crystals of salt of tartar, which must be remov- 
ed with great caution with a skimmer ; the separation of this; quantity 
diminishes the too marked acidity of the preserve, and increases its 
sweetness. This process is highly necessary in the North, and ac- 
cording to the sea"cn the tartar is in greater or less quantities ; but 
in the South, the presence of tartar is rather desirable to relieve the in- 
sipid sweetness of the sweetmeat, which is so great, thit aromatics 
have to be used to give it a flavour. When skimmed of the tartar, 
the must is strained through a thin cloth, decanted and put back on 
the fire, where it must be stirred without ceasing. The must has 
become marmalade when it sets in a jelly, on being stood to cool. 

Compound marmalade of the South. When the must has been boil- 
ed to one half, and been sufficiently skimmed, it must be strained ; and 
the peeled and quartered fruits must be thrown into the pan ; pour over 
them the liquor, which by the first boiling up, melts into the necessa- 
ry fluidity for actmg on the fruit, and softening it into a pulp; stir 
constantly, until the boiled fruit is mashed and incorporated, and the 
whole syrup is *one homogeneous mass. Towards the last, the fire 
should be gradually moderated. To know when it is done, take about 
the size of a hazel-nut and drop it on a china dish; if it does not sink 
flat, and if no moisture escapes from it forming an areola around it, 
the jelly is done. If the fruit has, on account of the vintage ripen- 
ing late, been previously stewed — before adding it, the must should 
have nearly reached its final consistence. 

For the compound marmalade of the North: after the must has been 
thickened by boiling, and freed of its superabundant tartar.it is put back 
upon the nre with the fruits that are to be mixed with it, precisely re- 
gulating the whole in the way already mentioned for the compound 
marmalade of the South. But, as the fruit selected is sometimes so 
acid that the preserve could not be used without the addition of some 
sweetening, a little grape syrup is added, while boiling ; the syrup of 
sweetmeats, or Southern marmalade. The housekeepers to the North, 
who have not at command these means, first clay the must, that is, 
neutralize it with powdered chalk ; then boil it to a syrup, and after- 
wards add the fruit, and proceed with the reduction of the whole as 
before mentioned. 



147 



An excellent marmalade is made from clayed must and pears in the 
proportion of 100 or 120 pears to 4 gallons of sweet must, and 4 or G 
quinces; it is sweet and mellow, with a shght tartness that heightens its 
fragance and flavour. The Northern marmalades are, on the whole 
preferable to those of tlie South, in which the sugar and tartar are not 
in such relishing proportions. The conserve must be covered in pots 
from the air, and stood in a dry place. When it candies, a little must 
may be added to it, or the pots be stood in boiling water for several 
hours and the jelly well stirred. 

Grape Butter ; in place of adding fruits of various kinds to the boil- 
ing must ; some only add a certain portion of must that has been eva- 
porated and concentrated to thickness ; the whole boiled to the con- 
sistence of jelly, is a very agreeable and healthy addition to the 
table in fall and winter. This preserve is poured into pots, with cinna- 
mon and cloves, and put in the bread-oven to bake, before it is con- 
sidered sufficiently prepared for keeping. Before serving it on the table 
it is slightly warmed and is eaten with buttered toast. 



CHAPTER IV. 



VARIOUS SORTS OF MADE- WINES. 

This chapter will refer more particularly to the wines prepared in 
the domestic way, and to cordial wines. Vinegar and its compounds 
shall be treated of separately. 

1- Made Wines. 

Under this head we must not include the syrups prepared from the 
must, because they do not contain a drop of alcohol. These syrups 
are only used for sweetmeats, or cordials, or for vats that are filled 
with meagre fruit ; or, as is practised in some parts of the Archipelago 
and Egypt, to make a delectable sherbet, that will keep in wooden 
vessels, if stored in a cellar, for some time. 

By made-wine is understood a fermented table-drink, obtained from 
a mixture of concentrated must, brandy, and some spices or aromatic 
seeds. The preparation of these wines belongs to the housekeeper or 
her daughters. 

The use of these drinks is very ancient ; it passed from Asia to 
Greece ; from that all over Europe ; they are still in request in Italy, 
Spain, especially in the neighbourhood of San Lucar, and in some 
departments of France, mostly in the Bouches-du-Rhone. The follow- 
ing is the most general recipe. 

Pick the ripest, finest, and most sweet smelhng grapes of the Malvo- 
sie and the Muscat kinds, at the hottest time of day, to avoid the 
least humidity. Lay them on hurdles and transport them with great 
caution to the spot in which they are to be exposed to the sun. Here 
they must be left for 5 or 6 days ; turned three times a day, and shelter- 
ed at night. The sixth day they are to be crushed in the vat. Of 
the must thus obtained, only the upper part is taken out for this pur- 
pose, the lower notjbeing considered so exquisite and rich. Thisf7-ea77i 
of the must is put in a copper boiler over a clear charcoal fire, or at 
least a fire without smoke, where it must boil until reduced to one 
third, being in the mean time carefully skimmed. It is then poured 
Into new, or perfectly clean, wooden vessels, and when cold is transfer- 



149 



red to casks and bunged tightly. The wine it makes is of a pretty 
amber colour, rich, delicate, and should be racked and bottled promptly. 

In some southern districts, as the liquid boils up, they throw in some 
aniseed and coriander ; cinnamon ; six apricot stones, shells and all, 
six peach-pits the same, and after it has stood forty-eight hours, it is 
strained through a wet cloth. It is then put away in vessels and 
stands the whole winter ; when it is drawn off clear, strained through 
a jelly -bag and bottled. 

The best made wines come from Corsica ; in the commerce with 
the North they pass for Spanish and Canary wines; and when they 
have reached their highest point of activity, and have become real 
cordial wines, they are sold for old Cyprus, Tinto, Malaga, and 
Madeira wine of the first quality. 

To make a wine that will ripen sooner, the liquid must be taken 
from the fire just as it is about to boil up, and poured into a cask and 
well bunged ; it will be fit to drink in three months ; and will then 
seem to possess all the properties it would have naturally had in the 
course of six or ten years. Claret wine 2 or 3 years old, treated in 
this manner, assumes in a few hours, the colour, taste, and properties 
it shows in ten or twelve years. 

Cordial wine is that, the sugar of which is not entirely converted 
into alcohol. France produces a considerable number, of good qua- 
lity, fit to compete with expensive imported wines of this kind. There 
are red and white ; those rated best, are the white Muscats of Rive- 
saltes (Eastern Pyrennees,) which connoisseurs liken to the best Mal- 
voisy ; Frontignac and Lunel, (Herault) ; the red Grenache wine 
from the vineyards of Bagnyals, Cosperon, Rhodes, and Collioure 
(Eastern 3nees,) the keen zest of which rivals the Rota or even 
Cyprus wine ; the white Macaheo, made at Saleeta, (same depart- 
ment,) and which somewhat favours Tokay ; and the Muscats called 
Picardan, Calahrian, Malaga and Madeira imitations &c. which are 
prepared in several of the vinegrounds of the department of Herault. 

These cordial wines would enjoy a still higher reputation, if it 
were not, that by a most blameworthy cupidity, botched wines of this 
sort, mended with drugs, are often offered in the market as genuine. 
They are adulterated with raisins, Socotrine aloes, cherries, raspber- 
ries, peaches, orris or galanga root, or pitch or other like substances, 
selected nowadays with peculiar audacity for the purposes cf decep- 
tion. The wines thus adulterated are not really unwholesome, but 
they have neither the tonic powers of the genuine, nor their fragrant 
aroma. As I will lend no encouragement to these fabrications, I shall 
give none of the recipes for imitating foreign cordial wines ; but leave 
it to the vine-grower to discover among the flavours pf the fruits 



150 



of his own soil, the clues to still more appetising mixtures ; while ho 
gives his best endeavours to the cultivation of the plant and the per- 
fect manipulation of the wine-making process. 

3. Straw Wines. 

These are so called from the grapes being formerly spread for 
several months on straw, or hung on ropes of straw, before beino- 
stemmed and crushed. Straw wines are still prepared in several 
vineyards of the district of Colmar (Haut Rhin,) ; in the neighbour- 
hood of Nancy, (de la Meurthe) and at I'Ermitage (de la Drome). As 
the modes of pressing are different, it may not be amiss to give a 
succint description of them. 

In the department of Upper Rhine, straw wine is only made in 
very favorable seasons ; the best and ripest bunches are selected from 
those varieties called rcitzende or refined ; tJiey arc hung upon poles 
across the beams; and are visited daily, to pick out rotten or specked 
berries. They are exposed to the currents of air until frost, when, 
they are covered to protect them from the cold. The grapes are 
stemmed in March and carried to the press. As the grape is half 
dry it affords but little must, which ferments slowly. The liquor is 
drawn off as soon as the fermentation subsides ; and it is one tenth 
the quantity of what it would have been at the time of the vintage. 
It is extremely sweet and smooth, and must be clarified and bottled. 
This wine has no fault save a slight tang of tartness which disappears 
as the wine mellows. When six or eight years old it is very neat 
and agreeable. 

In the departments of Meurthe and those in the neighbourhood, the 
grapes are prepared the same way, but they are squeezed in December. 
In March the liquor is bottled, corked, waxed and stowed away in 
garret lofts. There it completes its fermentation and becomes spark- 
ling like Champagne. 

The Hermitage straw wine is of a golden colour, and has a fla- 
vour like the flavour of raisins. It does not begin to ferment until 
several months after it is put into the cask, and therefore, in speaking 
of its age, the first year is never counted. The fermentation some- 
times lasts six years, and it is not until two or three years after, that 
it is ripe enough to please; but then it is reckoned one of the best 
cordial wines in the w^orld. Very little is made of it, doubtless on ac- 
count of the minute cares and many details requisite to fabricate it in 
perfection ; and the difliculties besides, in the way of sale, of an arti- 
cle so necessary to be warranted, and co-stb' in all cases. 



151 



4. Sparkling Wines. 

It is only in the neighbourhood of Rheims and Epernay ('Marne,) 
tliat the famous sparkling wines are produced. These wines are ob- 
tained by a skilful admixture of black and white grapes ; the bunches 
selected are the ripest and soundest, and are cleansed from all wither- 
ed, green, or rotten berries. They are crushed by a press, that screws 
thrice ; the first pressure affords the must for the wine ; the second, 
which gives higher coloured and more spirituous wine, is added in 
the proportion of one tenth or twelfth to the sparkling wine ; and the 
product of the third pressure is used to add strength to the common red 
wines of the country. Sparkling wine is bottled in the month of March 
after the vintage; the ebullition commences two months after ; it is very 
strong in June, during the flowering of the Vine, and also in August 
when the grape begins to ripen; at which time the vine-grower meets 
with great losses from the breaking of bottles. This ferment grows 
feeble in autumn, and the next season it causes fewer accidents. 

There are two kinds of this wine, the sparkling and the still. The 
sparkling is made in those seasons when the grape is not as perfect as 
possible, in seasons when the wines are apt to be light, tart, and not 
spirituous ; but the still is made from the crops of seasons which were 
warm and regular, and in which the grape had come to perfection. 
The sparkling often lose their sweetness and fire in growing old, but 
become the livelier, the carbonic acid gas being constantly on the in- 
crease. 

5. Rose Wine. 

The grapes in the department of Marne, intended for rose wine, 
are culled and gathered with the same precautions as those for the 
sparkling wine ; they are also crushed in the press ; before being put 
to the press, they are stemmed and slightly bruised in vessels for 
this purpose, and left until incipient fermentation, by which the co- 
lonring matter begins to give a rosy tinge to the must. 

This is the usual method ; but some make use of a mixture called 
from the place of its manufacture, Vin de Fimes, Fimes wine. It is 
made from elder berries boiled with cream of tartar, and filtrated. A 
few drops of this liquor will ffive the colour ; it is of a finer hue and keep^ 



152 



longer tlian that obtained by fermentation ; and it u thought that it 
does not in any degree impair the taste or wholesomeness of the wine. 
Nevertheless, I cannot second the use of it with my recommenda- 
tion, as I do not believe that any adulteration or imitation can equal 
native excellence. 



0. Rape Wine. 



Rape wine is manufactured in the neighbourhood of Orleans and in 
several other departments from stemmed grapes to which feints are 
added, or from grapes laid in layers with Vine sprouts, or by mace- 
rating Vine sprouts in the must. It is boiled afterwards, and the liquor 
thus obtained is used to colour the low wines of cold and wet places, 
or to give them strength. 



CHAPTER IL 



OF VIJVEGAU\ 



The last article of produce from the grape ifi the acetic acid, or 
vinegar, the most general and useful of acids. The characteristics of 
vmegar are its peculiar odour, sharp without acrimony ; a sour taste 
neither pungent nor disagreeable ; a winy colour paler than any red 
wine ; and a rate of concentration usually from four to six degrees. 

Beside the constant tendency of wine to sour, there are modes and 
means of hurrying or promoting its acid fermentation. One way is to 
macerate in the wine, Vine shoots, stems of the bunch, green grapes, 
but this foreign leaven is not enough, without the contact of the open 
air, and a temperature of from 18 to 20 degrees ; the wine too should 
abound in alcohol and not be deep coloured. It should at least be a 
year old also, and never have been stummed. But these remarks only 
apply to the making of the clioicest vinegar ; for all deteriorated and 
injured wines, not reclaimable for other purposes, are properly set aside 
for vinegar; still the violent ferments that have previously injured their 
qualities, continue to show their effects, when the liquor is converted 
into vinegar. The taste, smell, and strength are inferior. The re- 
cipes of the vmegar-merchant indicate the necessary steps for bring- 
ing this acid to its highest degree of strength ; and the whole princi- 
ples of the art may be found fully developed in the tenth volume of the 
first edition of the Cours Complet d'agricuUure of Rozier. But as 
I only write for vine-dressers, heads of families, and the rural man- 
sion, I need only give the directions necessary for making vinegar as 
a household preparation. 

Domestic Vinegar. — Have a barrel expressly for this use ; and pre- 
pare it with the mother as it is called, to communicate a high degree 
of acidity To this effect pour in several quarts of boiling vinegar , 
which allow to remain in the unbunged cask for seven or eight days ; 
the barrel should stand where the temperature is mild and equal. 
Draw this off, and pour in the souring wine, and leave the bung open 
20 



154 



When it has become vinegar, and needs clarifying, take out a few gal- 
lons, into which pour a tumbler of boiling milk and shake strongly ; let 
it stand till it settles, and the result is a straw-coloured vinegar, with 
the fragrance perfect, which would have been lost by distillation. 

Distilled vinegar is white and very sharp, but retains an odour of 
burning for a long while; this inconvenience is only to be obviated by 
distilling in the sand-bath ; or if the still is heated by boiling water which 
has been thickened by a strong solution of muriate or nitrate of lime, 
which raises the heat above that of boiling water, the distillation is 
easily effected in a perfect manner. 

Aromatic Vinegar. — For this, white vinegar is necessary ; lavender; 
thyme, or rosemary nips, or tarragon sprigs, are picked fresh, and 
spread before a hoi fire to give tliem a quick and sudden drying, just 
enough to deprive them of any excess of moisure. They are then 
to be shred fine into the vinegar ; which, when it seems strong- 
ly imbued with the requisite flavour, must be strained clear to pre- 
vent its growing mouldy, or changing in its colour and properties from 
the presence of foreign substances. 

The above are the aromatic flavours most in request ; however, use 
is also made of citron, raspberry, roses, elder- flowers, &c. The man- 
ner in which it is done is the same as for the tarragon, &c. 

Sallad Vinegar. — The recipe for this Compound Vinegar is due 
to Parmentier. It is highly agreeable and tonic. 

Take tarragon, summer savory, cives, shallots, and garlic, of each 
3 ounces ; mint-tops and blossomed balm, each a liandful ; dry the 
whole and shred the articles into a two-gallon demijohn, which fill 
with vinegar and leave a fortnight infusing in the sun ; then decant 
the vinegar, strain and squeeze through a jelly bag, and filtrate and 
bottle it ; the bottles must be well corked. 

Vinegar Syrup. — This is a very healthy and agreeable summer 
beverage. 

Fill a gallon of vinegar with as many clean picked, ripe raspberries 
■as will take up the liquor. Let it stand a week; then pour the 
Avhole out into a silk sieve, and let it run through without squeezing. 
To *very pound of this liquor put two pounds of loaf-sugar, broken 
small; and put the vinegar and liquor in a close alembic in the sand- 
bath, over a very moderate fire ; as soon as the sugar is melted, put 
out the fire ; when the syrup is nearly cold, bottle it, cork it well and 
set it in a cool place. 



BOOK SIXTH ANO LAST. 



BRIEF HL^'TS OS THE DISEASES LXCIDEA'TJL TO THE 
VLYE-DRESSER. 



Ill general, our vine-dressers toil laboriously and fare poorly ; and if 
excessive exertion occasions diseases, bad nourishment weakens and 
deranges the vital functions. Undoubtedly the necessity of doing 
with promptitude the labours requisite about the Vine, is the reason 
why such extraordinary and zealous activity is indispensable in the. 
labourer ; but if amid this driving of work, poverty or what is worse, 
cupidity, refuses to afford the necessary and nourishing aliments, 
serious and complicated debilities are the consequence. The labour- 
ing countryman requires healthy food : he requires four meals a day, 
and five during the vintage, but these should be frugal. Frugality 
sustains and strengthens the native powers of the digestive organs, 
and bestows a robustness of health, to which toil seems light, and rest 
after fatigue a luxury. I have seen men, who had lived the greater 
part of their lives on no other nourishment during the better half of 
the year than bread, cheese and water, able to work with an unremit- 
ting ardour, and retaining their strength at an age which the inhabit- 
ant of cities rarely reaches without being overwhelmed with infirm- 
ities. The activity of the digestive organs in the rustic labourer 
is a proof of the justness of the remark of Tissot, that we are supported 
not by what is eaten, but bv what is assimilated. 

Cleanliness in clothing and salubrious dwellings are points of great 
importance to the vine-dresser ; the looseness and size of his vest- 
ments is all extremely proper, but the vine-dresser is too frequently 
incautious in not resuming them when he rests from hia exertions. 
By this want of foresight inflammatory diseB^ses are very frequent ;. 



156 



inflammations of the joints, acute rheumatisms, dysentery, and inter- 
mittent fevers. 

One essentially dangeroxis vice is, the habit of drinking wine or 
brandy to excess, which is here and there to be seen among the vine- 
dressers. These excesses sharpen and render inflammatory the 
diseases that befal the young, and cause incurable dropsies in the old. 
It is far from my thoughts to forbid that wine to the labourer which 
he has toiled so hard to produce with the sweat of his brows j wine 
is necessary to the labouring man to support his strength ; but it is 
the abuse against which I speak ; it is so hard a sight to behold the 
useful man dishonoured and degraded, and reduced to the level of the 
dangerous and burthensome sluggard. 

But these arc general considerations ; let us look more closely to 
those diseases inherent in the condition of the vine-dresser. 

In nearly every operation about the Vine, the labourer must keep 
himself bent double, which causes such pains in the back, as with 
the alternatives of heat, and cold, and wet, disposes him, with age, 
to remain bowed, or round-shouldered ; 1 have seen very aged labour- 
ers whose backs seemed bent at right angles, but they walked very 
well with a stick. This may be prevented by the distribution of 
labour, and the use of bathing ; but the vine-dresser too often prefers 
to do as his fathers have done before him, and to march off to the 
tavern from the vineyard, rather than to take care of himself. Tliese 
pains in the back can be relieved by frictions of camomile, olive, or 
nut oil, with one twelfth part of volatile alcali ; a woollen girdle or 
sash, also, should be worn next the skin. 

The vine-dresser feels no inconvenience from the spring sun, but 
in the summer., the heat upon the head sometimes induces violent 
pains, turgidness of the bloodvessels, vertigo, bihous vomiting &c. 
When the evil is violent enough to call for prompt remedies, the 
physician should be sent for ; and in the mean time the patient should 
be kept remote from the light and from noise ; water, acidulated with 
vinegar, given him to drink ; his feet should be soaked in very warm 
water saturated with salt or mustard, and emollient enemas be 
administered. 

There is no labourer more subject to hernias than the vine-dresser. 
From the moment of attack every precaution is necessary, if he 
wishes to feel able to continue devoted to his usual tasks, or even to 
any of the slightest severity. 

A silly notion of economy too often leads the sufferer to look to 
some tailor or seamstress for a bandage ; but the use of a regular truss 
applied by a physician of judgement and experience, is the only course 



157 



to be pursued, if he would act with justice to himseh" or family. 
A false bandage, instead of being the means of sure and easy com- 
pression, is useless and embarrassing, and fitter to increase the evil 
than diminish it. 

During the first ferment of the v.'ine enclosed in the vat, or even 
when it is in the cask in small cellars, that have no draught, and are 
very low, vapours are disengaged, which are inebriating, and occasion 
vertigo, vomiting, numbness of the limbs, and overpowering stupor. 
These symptoms are not dangerous ; rest and the open air, and drinks 
of hot coffee or acidulated water are sufficient to restore the individual 
to health ; but too long an exposure to the carbonic acid gas renders 
the numbness dangerous, and asphyxia and sudden death are near at 
hand. It is better that these accidents should be prevented by fore- 
sight, than to trust to curative means to rescue the victims. Before 
entering a cellar, endeavour to discover by the smell whether the 
mephitic gas pervades it ; if, on shghtly opening the door, the peculiar 
odour is perceived, throw it open and leave the spot immediately, to 
give a chance to the expansive gas to escape from the confined pre- 
cincts. If the smell does not satisfy you, open cautiously and look 
steadily into the cellar ; if you perceive a mist in it hovering, and 
about to rise above the vat or casks, do not enter, but use means to 
disturb the air in the cellar, and if possible estabUsh a draught. If 
neither of these directions give satisfactory results, if the presence 
of the mephitic air is suspected, notwithstanding appearances to the 
contrary, then drop alighted candle by a string into the cellar, over 
some vat or cask. If the flame grows yellow, faint, and expires, the 
air of the place is dangerous to life, and must be renewed. 

"When asphyxia has taken place, the assistance should be immediate 
and persevering, but not hurried or careless. The first thing is to 
bring the unfortunate individual into the fresh air ; after which, 
every part of the dress that might obstruct respiration must be 
loosened, and not a ligature or tightness of any sort be allowed 
around the body or limbs. Cold water and vinegar must be 
sprinkled, or dashed, over the face and skin, and light fi-ictions be 
appHed to the chest. If these means seem unavailing, the lungs must 
be inflated, either by an apparatus, or "by some bystander breathing 
into the mouth of the patient, and then pressing the hand lightly 
on the chest and abdomen, to re-estabUsh the mechanical operation 
of respiration in the lungs ; purgative enemas should next be tried, 
blisters be put on, or even leeches applied in various parts of the body. 
Such exertions as these must not be discontinued for several hours ; 
the least negligence or impatience may accelerate death, while these 



158 



humane efforts, steadily persisted in, are very seldom ineffectual. 

I shall say nothing of such diseases the vine-dresser is liable 
to, in common with every cultivator of the soil ; nor those which may 
afflict him in common with every human being. My sole purpose has 
been to give a few hints of advice that may be useful, happy if my 
task has been fulfilled in a manner to satisfy the reader and to evince 
the sincerity of my wishes to see my country prosperous in agricultur- 
al arts, those nurseries of health, and happiness ; whose influence 
is so closely united with the duration and final destinies of a nation. 



THE END. 



EXPLANATION 



OP THE 

PliATE. 

Figure 1. VINE-SHEmS. 

These shears were invented by M. de Molleville, and have receiv- 
ed such improvements through the late Edme Regnier, that the 
pruning-hook, not one of the disadvantages of which belong to the 
shears, is now entirely supplanted by them . 

The instrument, on the principle of a pair of nippers or pincers, 
is composed of two handles, a a, one of which terminates at top in a 
curved or hooked slope b, and the other in a cutting blade of tem- 
pered steel. By means of the double steel spring, d d, the branches 
of the shears are kept open ; to assist in closing them, a loop, passed 
through a hole in the end of the handle, is jerked by the hand of the 
operator. 

A. The instrument closed. 

B. The same open ,• by closing the branches a a, the blade c, cuts 
through the wood, shoot, or stem, against the slope b, with the 
cleanness and certainty of a sharp knife, without giving any shock to 
the plant. It sells at the price^of five francs, and is to be had in 
all directions. 

Figure II. qUENTIN DURmO S GIRDLER. 

With this instrument girdling can be performed without danger to 
the plant, and with certainty of neatness and precision ; also with the 
saving of half the time. 

A. The instrument in front. 

B. A side view. 

It has steel blades, a ; two cutting edges, crescent-shaped j a guard 
to prevent the edges from cutting too deep ; and springs to regu- 



ii 

late the force applied to the handles. The dotted lines h show the 
circuit from left to right made by the instrument during the operation 
of girdling. 

Figure 111. BETTINGERS CUTTLXG jXIPPERS. 

Bettinger's utensil deserves to be preferred to all others for safety 
and expedition in girdUng. The inventor is a lock-smith in Paris, 
Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple, No. 94. 

A. shows it in front, B. in profile. The several parts are a, the 
handles ; b, spring to keep them open ; c, foux steel edges ; d, screws 
to fasten the edges. From the shape of these edges, which are set 
free in the prongs or nippers of the instrument, and aiB scre"wed 
across an opening, there is a passage above and below them, as they 
work, by which the bark and skin is carried off. The edges, fhey 
are mounted, do not prt ject further in face of the prongs than ie 
necessary for cutting the bark without hurting the wood^ 



Figure IV. MACHLXE FOR CRUSHING THE GRAPES 

The idea of this machine originated with M. Acher, of Chartres ; 
but has been brought to its present perfection by the author of this 
treatise. Not the smallest berry can escape its action which redu- 
ces them to pumice with celerity, exactitude, and neatness. 

It is composed of a wooden frame-work, to the upper part of which 
a hopper, a, is atteched, into w^hich the grapes are thrown. From 
thi^, the berries pass under a cylinder, b, which is turned by an iron 
handle, c ; the cylinder is garnished with nail heads which scrape, 
as the cylinder revolves, against the teeth of an iron comb, d, which 
is firmly suspended from the hopper a, by two screwed hinges, e. 

The cylinder b, should be a foot in diameter and three and a half 
long. The nail-heads must be driven into it in bias or slant-wise 
lines J the spindle of it should be iron, and for the convenience of the 
workman, should have a turned wooden handle k, over the iron 
spindle. The spindle is slung at both ends, into a notch I ; and the 
back of the hopper, and a portion of the sides of it, are canied down, 
beyond the cylinder, in such a manner as to form a projecting, broad, 
open gutter or sUde, down which pours the bruised pumice into such 
vessels as are stationed to receive it 



iii 



Tlie teeth of the comb are perpendicular to the spindle of the 
cylinder, and the use of this comb is to clean from the nail-heads, all 
obstructions that might clog them. 



Figure V. THE CRUSHJjyG MACHINE OF M. GUERLK. 

A. The machine seen from above ; B, a perpendicular section of 
the same. There are two rollers a a, which, by pressure and rub- 
bing mash the fruit. They are put in motion by two toothed wheels b b 
of different sizes, which causes one of the rollers to move more rapidly 
than the other. Each wheel is attached to its roller by the spindle ; 
the handle belongs to the smallest wheel. The largest wheel is ten 
inches broad ; the smaller is only six and a half inches in diameter. 

These cylinders lie along the bottom of a hopper, c, into which the 
stemmed grapes are thrown, and open upon a trough, d, below, that is 
five feet nine inches in length. 



FwuRE VI. IJVSTRUMENT FOR FILLING CASKS. 

The inyentor of this instrument ia M. Horpin of Metz ; it is cal- 
culated for the purpose of preventing the spoiled wine on the surface 
from mixing with the rest in the cask. The long tube of this funnel 
is plunged in at the bung-hole to a considerable depth, and new 
wine is poured through it without disturbing the cask, and the spoiled 
wine is led off at the same time without any commotion. 

This funnel has a wide mouth and a long vertical tube, a, through 
which the wine is poured ; and a jointed tube b, through which the 
layer of spoiled wine escapes. Both these tubes pass through a bung 
of a conical shape, c, made of tin, and which is wrapped with linen, 
to fit it to the bung-hole for the operation ; is a handle of iron 
wire fastened to a cork e, which closes the lower orifice of the funnel. 

It can be made of tin ; the tube a should be from 15 to 18 inches 
long ; and four inches broad across the mouth ; in the centre it should 
be 8 lines broad, and the lower opening should be two lines in breadth. 
The tube b should be four lines broad, and from 3 to 4 inches long. 
The false bung is made solid on all sides, is three inches broad above, 
an inch and a half below, and the same in thickness. The wire d, must 



iiii 



pass through the cork, and be fastened above and below with screw- 
taps; or instead of the cork, may be used a valve of varnished silk; 
opening from above, downwards. 



FUNNSI.. 

Figure VII. JVLLIEN'S SYPHON. 

The use of this is for the transferring of wine from one bottle to 
another. The syphon a, is introduced into the bottle to be drawn off, 
up to the conical cork h, which must close the neck perfectly, and 
allow the end of the syphon c, to touch the upper side of the bulge of 
the bottle. This syphon terminates outwardly in a beak d, and is 
opened and closed at will by the faucet or screw c. The wine enters 
the syphon by small holes made in g near the cork h. A small horn 
or hook h, is soldered to the beak of the s3T)hon to receive the loop of 
wire j, by which the small funnel k is fastened to the syphon. The 
screw t, should be open when the syphon is introduced into the bottle. 

A. The syphon. 

B. The funnel. The neck of the syphon fits to the mouth I, of 
the funnel ; and is fastened by the wire-loop j, to the small horn h 
of the syphon. The extremity m of the funnel is curved bo as to 
lead the wine against the side of the bottle. The funnel must be 
made fast before the operation is begun, and, should not be moved 
until the drawing off is over. 



7 53 



